10% of the Cows, Half the Beef Exported: How Canada Punches Above Its Weight

With just under 3.5 million beef cows and a fed kill shy of 3 million head, Canada raises a fraction of North America’s cattle — but exports roughly half of what it produces as live cattle or beef.

Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) General Manager Ryder Lee says Alberta–Saskatchewan cow country, Ontario and Alberta feeding hubs, and U.S. packing plants in Washington, Utah and Pennsylvania are tightly interlinked, making border access and science‑based trade rules non‑negotiable for producers on both sides.

Raised on a commercial cow-calf operation in southern Saskatchewan — just 20 miles north of Montana — Lee grew up in what he describes as “cattle country.” After earning an animal science degree, he spent six years in agricultural sales with Dow AgroSciences before stumbling into cattle industry association work. He spent a decade in Ottawa doing policy lobbying, then served seven years as CEO of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association before joining CCA as General Manager three years ago.

The Canadian beef industry follows a geographic logic. The majority of cows are concentrated in Alberta and Saskatchewan, while two distinct feeding regions have emerged: southern Alberta, with its dry cold and strong irrigation infrastructure, and southern Ontario, where Great Lakes moisture requires enclosed, undercover feeding operations.

“There’s more cows in Texas than in Canada,” Lee explains. “Nebraska processes more cattle than Canada does.”