Planned and impulse heifer breeding

The January Cattle report from USDA-NASS has included the inventory of beef replacement heifers since 1920. The latest USDA Cattle report pegged the January 1, 2024 beef replacement heifer inventory of 4.86 million head, down 1.4 percent year over year. However, the latest report revised the initial estimates of the 2023 inventory from 5.16 million head down to 4.93 million head.  This means that the 2024 beef replacement heifer total is down 11.4 percent from 2022. With the revisions, the 2023 inventory, along with the 2024 beef replacement heifer inventory are below 5 million head…