Hopes for an expansion in the Canadian cattle inventory may be coming to fruition, as Statistics Canada reports the first year over year increase in cattle herds since 2012.
According to Thursday's livestock estimates report, Canadian farmers had 13.2 million head of cattle on their farms as of July 1 this year, which is 1.3 per cent higher than the same time last year.
Canfax manager of research services Brenna Grant says it's a pretty minor increase, indicating Canada's beef industry remains in a consolidation phase, though she thinks the report contains some other interesting numbers, with the biggest increases coming from beef heifers held for breeding, up 4.5 per cent, and calf inventories, which were up 3.9 per cent from last year.
"Those two are actually the really key pieces in this report because it really shows even though we had drought last summer and things were really tough, producers were about to manage their feed-stores well and retain heifers," Grant says.
While these numbers have a positive shine, Grant says it's not too positive, as the numbers on heifers remain two per cent below the 10-year average, and 15 per cent below the 20-year average. In addition, the incentive to expand inventories further may be reduced, as Grant notes feeder calf prices have come down, meaning producers may decide to sell more than originally planned this fall.
Source : Portageonline