U.S. cattle inventory drops to 75-year low

By Julie Tomascik
Editor

The U.S. beef cattle herd continued its downward trend, with total cattle and calves reaching a 75-year low, according to the latest cattle inventory report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

As of Jan. 1, 2026, the nation’s cattle inventory totaled 86.2 million head, down from 86.5 million head a year earlier.

In Texas, there were 12.1 million head, the same as Jan. 1, 2025.

“Although replacement heifer numbers increased slightly across the nation, herd expansion isn’t happening yet,” Tracy Tomascik, Texas Farm Bureau associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities, said. “This signals that cattle supplies will remain thin throughout this year.”

U.S. cattle numbers
USDA’s cattle inventory report showed all cows and heifers that have calved were also down slightly at 37.2 million.

Beef cows, at 27.6 million head, were down 1% from a year ago.

All heifers 500 pounds and over as of Jan. 1 totaled 18 million head, 1% below the 18.1 million head last year. Beef replacement heifers, at 4.71 million head, were up 1% from a year ago.

Other heifers were down 2%, totaling 9.4 million head.

Milk cows, at 9.57 million head, were up 2% from last year, while milk replacement heifers, at 3.90 million head, were down slightly from the previous year.

Bulls weighing 500 pounds and over were up slightly. They totaled 2.01 million head on Jan. 1.

Steers weighing 500 pounds and over as of Jan. 1 totaled 15.6 million head, a 1% drop from last year.

Calves under 500 pounds totaled 13.3 million head, down slightly from a year ago.

Cattle on feed
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. for all feedlots totaled 13.8 million head. That’s down 3% from last year’s 14.3 million total.

Cattle on feed in feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head accounted for 82.7% of the total cattle on feed, up slightly from the previous year.

U.S. calf crop
The 2025 calf crop in the U.S. was estimated at 32.9 million head. That’s down 2% from the previous year’s calf crop.

Calves born during the first half of 2025 were estimated at 24.2 million head, down 2% from last year.

Calves born during the second half of 2025 were estimated at 8.70 million head, making 26% of the total 2025 calf crop.

More information
The full cattle inventory report, which was released Jan. 30, can be found here.

The next report will be released in July.

It has been a number of years since we had cows, so my opinion is pretty much on the outside looking in.

The super-duper large operations are probably holding pat on their numbers maybe even some slight increases.

The drops and the lows are the mid to low level type operations as it is just too expensive to carry a lot of cows thru the winter. Even as diesel drops here and there, and hay (around here) is more available than last year, it costs to carry cows thru the winter. The most effective ways to cut those costs is to lower the number of cows, and heifers at that.

It sort of rolls into the next couple years as those heifers that would have produced some more cows are no longer available. It takes a couple three years to offset this year's decision.

We never had many at a time. There were just enough to make some calves here and there. Toward the end if we butchered one and sold three or four it would offset most of the cost of buying hay in the winter. Then repeat. My Pops use to say 'as long as we break even' and there were a few years in a row when breaking even was not an option, nor an opportunity.

Unlike the bigger operations we didn't have the resources nor the alternate income to ride the lows and wait for the highs.

Now that I am carnivore I sort of miss the value and benefits of raising my own menu but we have had ice and snow for two plus weeks with another round coming tonight. I don't think I would look forward to hauling hay and busting ice/hauling water to keep them fed/watered.

Scott