Three Takeaways from the July Cattle Inventory Report

Aug 07, 2026

By Dr. Kenny Burdine

USDA released both the July cattle inventory and cattle-on-feed reports on July 24^th. And shortly after these reports dropped, the announcement was made that a phased resumption of feeder cattle imports from Mexico would begin in late August. The latter news seemed to overshadow the two reports through the weekend, but Josh provided an excellent overview of both reports and the live cattle trade news last Monday. This week, I wanted to focus on the July cattle inventory report and share three things that especially stood out to me.

The beef cow herd continues to get older
I have written a lot about the slow pace of beef cow slaughter over the last couple of years. Beef cow slaughter was down by more than 500,000 cows (-17.6%) in 2025 and is on pace to be down by over 350,000 cows in 2026. This implies a cull rate (beef cow slaughter / January 1 beef cow inventory) of 8.4% in 2025 and would suggest a cull rate of 7.2% if the current trend continues through the rest 2026. The fact that we are culling the herd at such a low rate, but continuing to see decreases in the number of beef cows, suggests an extremely low herd entry rate. With beef cows being retained longer and so few young females entering the breeding herd, the cowherd continues to get older. This will soon catch up with us, and a larger share of this herd will have to be culled going forward. I view this as yet another indicator that this is going to be a slow expansion.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Selling Hay for 40 Years: Fritz Trauttmansdorff, Dunlea Farms

Fritz Trauttmansdorff came to Canada from Austria in 1980, bought a 45-cow dairy farm at Jerseyville, and within two years had more hay than he knew what to do with. He sold the quota in 1986, went debt-free, and built a hay business that has kept some of the same customers for forty years. Today Dunlea Farms runs about 2,500 acres — roughly 600 of it hay, the rest IP soybeans and grain corn — and Fritz makes the case that hay isn't the crop you grow when grain doesn't work. It's the crop that makes the grain work.

"If you grow corn, soybeans and wheat, you're on a three-wheeler. If you put hay in the rotation, you're on a four-wheeler."

WHAT WE COVER • Why the hay market moves independently of the Chicago Board — and what that does for farm-level risk
• The real cost of a mistake: five bushels in grain, versus the whole crop in hay
• Getting a second job out of the same iron — planting tractors that mow all summer, tillage tractors that bale
• How a grain farmer can get hay into the rotation without buying a single piece of hay equipment
• Drilling Timothy in the fall and double-cropping soybeans into it the next June
• What it actually takes to go all-in: roughly 500 acres, good sheds, and a baler you didn't buy used
• Local, regional and international hay markets — and choosing which one you're building for
• Why 40-year customer relationships are the asset, not the equipment