USDA Will Offer Answers Later Today About The Growth of The US Beef Cow Herd The Past Twelve Months

The US Department of Agriculture will release the January first Cattle Inventory report, providing a snapshot of the size of the US cattle herd as of January first. Expectations are that it will show further growth in the size of the US Beef Cow Herd, which has been recovering in recent years from drought that hit the southern great plains at the beginning of this decade.

Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Economist Dr. Derrell Peel believes the report may show as much as one to two percent growth in the size of the US Beef Cow herd that was pegged at 30.3 million head as of January 1, 2016. Beef producers added a million beef cows in 2015- growing the herd from 29.3 million to 30.3 million head that year. The increase in 2016 from 2015 was four percent.