May 2012 Articles

Archives by Months

Changed Cow Slaughter Mix

CHANGED COW SLAUGHTER MIX The number of cows processed into beef in the U.S. has trended higher since 2005. Annual cow slaughter increased nearly 2 million head (up 41%) between 2005 and 2011. In recent weeks, the largest year-over-year increases have been in dairy cow slaughter. Weekly U.S. cow slaughter is divided into 10 geographic regions with data on both Federally Inspected beef and dairy cows. Two regions, 7 and 8, are not reported due to confidentiality reasons, leaving much of the Midwest unreported (IA, KS, MO, NE, CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, &WY). Dairy cow slaughter has posted year-over-year increases over the last three years. Total dairy cow slaughter year-to-date is up only 2% or 14.2 thousand head. But slaughter in recent weeks has accelerated. For the latest week of data (week ending April 7th) dairy cow slaughter was 8% or about 5,000 head above a year ago. Year-to-date the region representing AR, LA, NM, OK, & TX (region 6) has been up 46% compared to a year ago with slaughter totaling 105 thousand head of dairy cows. Region 3 (DE, MD, PA, WV, & VA) had the second highest year-to-date increase, up 8% and has already slaughtered 127 thousand head this year. Beef cow slaughter has been down in most regions compared to the first 14 weeks of 2011. Year-to-date total beef cow slaughter is down 4%. Compared to the large drought-induced beef cow slaughter of a year ago, in recent weeks large declines have occurred. For the first week of April, U.S. beef cow slaughter was about 12,000 head below 2011’s. Only three regions have recorded gains so far this year, region 3 (DE, MD, PA, WV, & VA), region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, & WI), and region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, & NV), up 9%, 16% and 24% respectively. Of course, the huge declines have been in the Southern Plains. It is likely dairy cow slaughter in all regions will remain above a year ago for at least several more months as milk prices continue to erode due to increased production. Beef cow slaughter is forecast to remain below 2011’s for the balance of this year and the year-to-year declines will be large. Source: Livestock Marketing Information Center (www.lmic.info)