February 23, 2012

Canadian cattle herd records first rise in years

Canada's cattle herd is accounted at a total of12.5 million heads as of January 2012, its first increase in seven years.

There were some contrasting results for the year, with the beef cow inventory as of January 2012, declining 1% on-year, to 4.2 million heads, while the number of beef replacement heifers increased 4.3%, to 554,300 heads.

The increase in the number of replacement heifers was in the western and eastern regions of Canada, rising 4.8% and 1%, respectively. The larger number of beef replacement heifers for 2012 indicates that Canadian producers have intentions to rebuild their herds after several years of decline.

The numbers of cattle on feed in Canada as of January 2012 were 4% higher compared with a year earlier, totalling 1.5 million heads.  The number of heifers and calves on feed increased 2.7% and 15.2%, respectively, more than offsetting a 1.2% year-on-year fall in the number of steers.

Statistics Canada also estimated there were 95,105 cattle farms in Canada as of January 2012, down 1.4% from January 2011. Of the total number of cattle farms, beef producers accounted for around 85%, with 66,595 cow-calf enterprises, 10,865 cow-calf back grounding enterprises, and 2,945 feeding enterprises.