News

Cattle, hog herds up in U.S., Canada

 

The combined U.S. and Canadian cattle and hog herds were larger at the start of this year than at the start of last year. The U.S. herds are larger, but the numbers in both nations are driven by demand expectations and improvements in calving and farrowing.

The USDA says all cattle and calves in the U.S. and Canada were up 1% on the year at 106.024 million head with most of the major categories steady to a little bit larger than last year.

All hogs and pigs at the end of December 2017 were 87.555 million head, up 2% from the end of 2016, also posting year to year gains in most of the major categories.

The USDA’s next domestic hogs and pigs report is out at the end of March and updated U.S. cattle inventory numbers are out July 20th.