Fact Brief: Does South Dakota Lead the Nation in Cattle Per Capita?

Dec 18, 2025

By Michael Klinski

South Dakota’s cattle population outnumbers the state’s human residents by roughly a 4-to-1 margin, the highest ratio in the country.

As of January 2023, the state had 3.6 million head of cattle 4% of the nation's inventory. With a human population of roughly 920,000, that puts the cattle-to-people ratio at 3.9. Nebraska is second, followed by North Dakota and Wyoming.

The number of cattle in the Rushmore State has trended downward the past decade. In 2018, South Dakota’s cattle-to-human ratio was 4.6-to-1. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the country had 87.2 million head of cattle in 2024, the lowest amount since 1951.

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Video: Methionine Requirements for Lactating Sows - Cierra Kozole

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Cierra Kozole, PhD candidate in Swine Nutrition at the University of Guelph, explains how methionine supports lactating sows beyond milk protein synthesis. She discusses updated requirement estimates, source comparisons, methylation demand, and why modern sow genetics may require more precise amino acid strategies. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Methionine supports protein synthesis while also serving critical functions through methylation pathways that influence multiple biological processes."

Meet the guest: Cierra Kozole / cierra-kozole-772b64253 is a PhD candidate in Swine Nutrition at the University of Guelph in Canada. Her doctoral research focuses on refining estimates of methionine requirements for primiparous lactating sows, including evaluating methionine sources, nutrient partitioning, methylation reactions, and the links among amino acid supply, milk production, and sow protein retention. Learn more from Cierra Kozole on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.