There are fewer cattle in the U.S. beef herd today than there has been in the past 65 years. According to USDA, there were 28 million head of beef cattle in the U.S. on Jan. 1 — down 2% from 2023. The shortage caused U.S. beef prices to skyrocket, and there are no signs of prices coming back down anytime soon.
At about the same time U.S. beef cattle numbers began to plummet 12 years ago due to persistent droughts in the western U.S., U.S. dairy farmers were dealing with a glut of dairy heifers after the introduction of dairy sexed semen in 2005. By 2014, there were too many dairy heifers in the U.S., and they were costing farmers more to raise than they were worth when sold, says Aerica Bjurstrom, regional Extension dairy educator for Kewaunee, Brown and Door counties in east-central Wisconsin.
Fran O'Leary, Wisconsin Agriculturist Senior Editor
September 5, 2024
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