February 17, 2006

Canadian herd numbers falling due to higher slaughter

Canada said its cattle herd in 2005 declined for the first time in three years after the US resumed imports of beef, taking some pressure off the build-up in stocks accumulated after the ban on diseased cattle.

Based on an estimate of 10,000 producers, ranches held 14.83 million head of cattle as of Jan 1, down 1.5 percent from a record 15.06 million in 2004, Statistics Canada said in a report. However, the figure is still 1.3 million higher than in 2002, before the discovery of mad-cow disease caused a ban on Canadian cattle and beef.

With exports closed, cattle producers were stuck with large herds until the US began importing live animals.

The Canada herd declined as the country's slaughter increased 1 percent in 2005, on top of a 28 percent rise in 2004 from 2003.