Canada beef producers increased the nation’s overall beef herd by one percent in the last year, the first increase since 2012. Statistics Canada released livestock estimated as of July first, last week. The report shows 13.2 million cattle on Canada’s beef farms, up 1.3 percent from 2015. Canadian cattle market analyst Charlie Gracey wrote in the publication Canadian Cattlemen recently, noting “a significant supply increase likely won’t be seen until 2020 at the earliest,” in Canada. Overall, cattle inventories are still down 21.8 percent from the peak level recorded in July of 2005. Canada’s exports, meanwhile, were down 10.6 percent during the first half of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. Canada’s hog producers also booked a bigger total herd as of July first at 13.5 million head, up 1.9 percent from the same date last year. Hog exports from Canada totaled 2.9 million head in the first half of 2016, down 0.1 percent from the same period in 2015.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.
From: Statistics Canada
Livestock estimates, July 1, 2016
On July 1, Canadian farmers had 13.2 million cattle on their farms, up 1.3% from July 1, 2015. This was the first year-over-year increase since July 2012. However, inventories were 21.8% below their peak level recorded in July 2005.
Hog producers reported 13.5 million hogs, up 1.9% from July 1, 2015, while the number of sheep fell 2.8% to 1.0 million head.
Cattle producers retained more breeding stock, as the number of beef heifers held for breeding on Canadian farms was up 4.5% compared with the same date a year earlier to 641,800 head. The number of beef cows also increased, up 0.3% to 3.8 million head. The inventory of calves on July 1 rose 3.9% to 4.3 million, the first year-over-year increase since July 2005. The number of feeder heifers was up 0.5%, while the number of steers fell 2.6% from July 1, 2015.
As of July 1, 81,465 farms reported inventories of cattle and calves, down 0.3% from July 1, 2015, and down 1.4% from the same date in 2014. Canadian farmers had 1.4 million dairy cows and heifers on their farms, up 0.4% from July 1, 2015.
Total disposition of cattle and calves rose 1.2%, driven by higher slaughter levels during the first half of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. Slaughter increased 4.3% to 1.4 million head over the first six months of 2016. However, international exports decreased 10.6% to 433,700 during the first half of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015, as a result of lower exports of calves.