Livestock economist says cattle producers remain slow to grow the herd

A livestock economist says he’s still not seeing signs of expansion in the cattle industry.

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says despite the ongoing strength in the cattle markets, USDA data suggests cattle producers haven’t started growing the U.S. herd.  “Beef cow slaughter for the first three months, we’re down 90,000 head from where we were first quarter of a year ago,” he says.  “That’s down 9.4%, so headed lower. However, slaughter is running high enough that it tells me we’re not doing a lot to build the herd.”

When the herd expansion was underway in 2015, heifers made up about 31 percent of total cattle on feed.  He tells Brownfield that is not the case today.

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