By Livestock Marketing Information Center
Margin estimates for cow-calf returns moved higher following USDA’s January 1 cattle inventory report. Total beef cows were down an estimated 2.5% but the main driver of higher returns was the very low beef heifer replacements, which reached an all-time low of 4.858 million head. The combined 2023 slaughter of beef cows and heifers represented 47% of the beef cow inventory on January 1, 2024. The highest percent in recent decades was on January 1, 2023, which came in at 48%. These are important references because it provides insights to how…
