Inventories of major livestock on Canadian farms (cattle, hogs and sheep) all declined between July 1, 2009, and July 1, 2010.
The Canadian cattle herd fell by 4.9% to 14.0 million and has been in a steady decline since its peak of 16.9 million in 2005.
At the same time, the hog inventory fell 2.4% to 11.8 million, while the number of sheep on Canadian farms decreased 1.9% to 1.0 million head.
Cattle
As of July 1, 99,026 farms reported beef or dairy cattle, down 3.5% from the same date in 2009.
During this period, the Canadian dairy herd fell 1.3%, while the total beef herd declined 5.5%. Indications are that the beef herd is not rebuilding as farmers reported a 5.1% decline in the total number of beef cows and a 2.3% drop in replacement heifers. The total number of dairy cows (-0.1%) and replacement dairy heifers (-1.6%) also declined compared with 2009.
From January to July 2010, an estimated 1.9 million head of Canadian cattle and calves were sent to slaughter. This was a 6.5% increase from the same period in 2009, but 0.3% below levels reported for the period from July to December 2009. During the first six months of 2010, exports of live cattle and calves totalled 613,100 head, up 1.5% from the same period in 2009.
Hogs
As of July 1, there were 7,050 hog farms in Canada, down 10.6% from the same date in 2009. At July 1, Canadian hog producers reported an estimated 11.8 million hogs on their farms, down from 12.1 million hogs on the same date in 2009.
Farmers reported 1.3 million sows and gilts on their farms, down 4.8% from July 1, 2009, and 9.4% below levels as of July 1, 2008.
Total hog and sow inventory, quarterly, at July 1
Hogs that were sent to slaughter totalled 5.1 million during the second quarter, down 0.8% from the same period in 2009. Canadian hog slaughter peaked in the fourth quarter of 2004 at just over 6.0 million head.
During the second quarter, total hog exports amounted to 1.4 million head, down 14.1% from the same quarter in 2009. Second-quarter exports were 52.3% below the peak of 2.9 million head recorded in the first quarter of 2008.
Sheep
Regionally, inventory levels of sheep fell across the country between July 1, 2009, and July 1, 2010, except in Alberta (+2.3%), the Atlantic region (+3.8%) and Saskatchewan, which was unchanged. The largest relative decline occurred in Manitoba, where the inventory declined 11.3%.
During the first six months of 2010, 325,900 sheep were sent to slaughter in Canada, down 4.5% from the same period in 2009. The export market for sheep has remained virtually non-existent since 2003.
Source: Statistics Canada