USDA-NASS released their January 1, 2023, cattle inventory estimates last week. To no one’s surprise, the report confirmed another year of contraction in the beef cattle industry. According to the report, cattle inventories totaled 89.27 million head, a 3% decline year over year. The table at the end of this article provides estimates for each cattle class in the report.
There was no question that the beef cow herd had gotten smaller; it was just a question of how much smaller (see graph above). A combination of dry weather, higher input costs, and high cull cow prices resulted in an…
