The Canadian cattle herd continued to shrink in 2024, hitting its lowest in 37 years, although the rate of decline did slow.
A Statistics Canada livestock inventory report on Tuesday pegged the total nationwide number of cattle on Canadian farms as of Jan. 1, 2025 at 10.94 million. That is down 0.7% from a year earlier and the lowest Jan. 1 total since 1988 at 10.75 million. However, StatsCan noted the size of latest annual contraction in the national herd was less than in 2023 (-2.1%) and in 2022 (-2.2%), following some improvement in Prairie drought and feed availability over the past year.
Jan. 1 cattle numbers in Canada peaked in 2005 at just under 15 million, mainly due to the first discovery of BSE in a Canadian-born cow in May 2003, which temporarily closed international markets to Canadian cattle and beef. The herd has mostly been in decline ever since, with more recent Prairie drought and tight feed supplies adding to the downward momentum.
Canadian cattle producers retained less total breeding stock on Jan. 1, 2025 compared to a year earlier. The number of bulls was down 1.8% and beef cows was 1.8% lower. On the other hand, StatsCan said beef heifers for breeding rose 0.8%, “lending support to the beef cow herd.”
Producers also held fewer steers (-1.8%), heifers (-0.5%) and calves (-0.2%) compared with Jan. 1, 2024.
The total number of cattle on beef operations as of Jan. 1, 2025 amounted to 9.07 million, down 0.5% on the year, while the number on cow-calf operations dipped around 1% to 5.98 million. The number of cattle on feeding operations was reported at 1.5 million, down 2.4% from a year earlier.
In the largest production province of Alberta, the total number of cattle on Jan. 1 was estimated at 4.7 million, down 0.9% from a year earlier. Saskatchewan cattle numbers on Jan. 1 were down 0.4% at 2.09 million, while Manitoba was 0.5% higher at 910,000. Ontario cattle numbers as of Jan. 1 were little changed from the previous year at 1.54 million.
US cattle herd remains in decline as well. A USDA cattle report earlier this month put the total American herd at 87.2 million as of Jan. 1 2025. That is a 2% fall from a year earlier and the lowest January head count since 1951 at about 82 million.
