Cattle: Inventory on July 1 by Year, US

The Life of a Cattle Rancher Isn't Something From the Movies

There are still cowboys in Texas and the rest of the Midwest, but they don't necessarily play football. It's a lifestyle that is unique to the Midwest. Cattle ranching has been significant to America since long before it became a country. It's a lifestyle that has been romanticized and has even spawned hundreds of movies and an entire genre of country music. So what do cattle ranchers actually do? Yes they wear cowboy hats and know how to ride a horse, but the industry has gotten a lot different since the first European settlers began the industry in America.

Many mid-westerners, especially in Texas, make their living in the cattle ranching industry. Most are in small towns that dot the Texas land, far away from the metropolises of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Ranchers typically own a lot of acres and there is not a lot of fancy houses or nightlife in those areas. The ranchers are simply there to make money and do something they love. It is not unusual for a cattle rancher to have more than 1,000 head of cattle at the same time.

The typical rancher goes to sales and tries to move his cattle or purchase more. In the small town of Nixon, Texas, there is an auction every Monday morning and that is not considered unusual. There's a lot of work that goes into cattle ranching. For all of the new cattle, there is the process of branding the cattle and marking the ears of their new cattle. Winter time can be tough because there isn't a lot of grass to graze, so cattle ranchers have to improvise. There's the task of keeping control of more than 1,000 cattle and making sure they are all healthy. Vaccinations take a lot of time.

Besides that, fences need to be kept safe and maintained, and it costs a lot of money to keep the tractors and farm equipment up to date and in running condition while keeping an eye on a large parcel of land. Then, there are the horses that need to be tendered to. Most ranchers ride horses around their tracts of land to tend to their cattle, And that workday usually starts long before the sun comes up. The horses and cattle rule the day and they typically wake up earlier then the 9-to-5 office workers. Rebuilding pens and doing general maintenance takes up a lot of the day, not to mention worming their cattle at least twice a year.

Being a cattle rancher can be a lucrative career. Young cows can sell for as much as $1,600 on the auction block. Most cowboys who ride the range reigning in their cattle look at cattle ranching as a way of life. It's not an easy life, having to feed and tend to so many cattle, but most cattle ranchers say that their way of life isn't something they would trade for anything else.

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

LIVESTOCK, POULTRY, AND DAIRY: The 2011 forecast of total red meat and poultry production is
raised reflecting higher beef production, but lower pork production. Continued large cow slaughter is
expected to boost beef production. A slower pace of slaughter in the third quarter and slightly lower
weights due to heat stress are expected to result in lower pork production compared to last month.
USDA will release its Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report on September 28, providing an estimate of sow
farrowings in June-August and an indication of producer intentions for farrowings into early 2012.
Broiler production is about unchanged as an increased forecast of third-quarter production is offset by
lower expected production in the fourth quarter. No change is made to turkey production and only a
slight revision is made to egg production. For 2012, the beef production forecast is raised but pork
and poultry production forecasts are reduced from last month. Larger forecast early year beef
production reflects marketing of the large number of calves which are being placed as a result of
drought in the Southern Plains. However, production in subsequent quarters will reflect tighter
supplies of cattle and lighter expected carcass weights due to the placement of lighter cattle and
relatively high feed prices. Pork forecasts are reduced as tight feed supplies dampen hog weights.
Poultry production forecasts are reduced as relatively high feed costs limit the sector’s expansion.
The egg production forecast is lowered due to lower hatching egg production.

From The USDA Briefing Room - Part 5

d
png | jpg

Cattle imports from Mexico tend to be lighter cattle for stocker operations and eventual finishing in U.S. feedlots. In past years, cattle imports from Canada tended to be animals for immediate slaughter, of which roughly two-thirds were fed steers and heifers and one-third were cows.
Imports of Canadian cattle into the United States were banned following Canada's May 2003 BSE case. In July 2005, U.S. imports of Canadian cattle resumed for animals less than 30 months of age for immediate slaughter or for finishing in a U.S. feedlot.
In July 2006, Canadian officials announced the discovery of BSE in a 50-month-old dairy cow from Alberta. The animal's birth occurred in the spring of 2002, and thus it was exposed to BSE well after Canada's feed ban was initiated in 1997.
USDA temporarily withdrew a proposal to allow the importation of Canadian cattle over 30 months of age pending the results of the investigation into the July 2006 Canadian case. However, in November 2007, USDA published a final rule in the Federal Register to allow imports of some live animals over 30 months of age and their meat products from countries recognized as presenting a minimal risk of introducing BSE into the United States. Currently, Canada is the only minimal-risk country designated by the United States. All animals born after Canada's 1997 feed ban are eligible to be imported into the United States.

d
png | jpg

From The USDA Briefing Room - Part 4

Cattle Trade

The United States imports significantly more cattle than it exports. The countries from which the United States imports cattle are the same ones to which it exports cattle: Canada and Mexico. The geographical proximity of these countries and the complementarity of their cattle and beef sectors explain why they are the United States' only significant cattle trading partners.

 

U.S. cattle exports to Canada and Mexico vary from year to year in both the total volume of exports and the relative percentage exported to each country. Historically, the United States has primarily exported slaughter cattle to both countries. However, changes in Canada's policies and market situation have led to increased exports of U.S. feeder cattle. U.S. cattle exports declined in 2003 and have remained low through 2006 in response to strong domestic cattle prices and trade barriers related to BSE and other diseases. Weaker cattle prices and larger cattle supplies in Canada due to its BSE situation also reduced Canadian demand for U.S. cattle.

In the Beginning, Cattle Wasn’t Used for Food

Cattle has been a popular industry in North America since well before the colonies were settled into what is today the United States. Europeans, who first started to settle North America in the late 15th century brought their own cattle over the seas and started an industry that has become large to this day. It took three centuries as America became independent and Texas was won from Mexico before it became what it is today.

Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 and the Mexicans that had homesteaded Texas left, leaving their cattle behind. It was boon for Texas, which was now an independent country with intentions of becoming one of the United States, but not because of the beef. Eating meat wasn’t as popular as the skins that came with the cattle, and it wasn’t for several decades that the beef became popular enough to make many ranchers very wealthy.

The Civil War actually boosted the cattle ranching industry. Texas ranchers left their farms to fight for the Confederacy and, even though the Confederates lost the war, it proved to be a big boost for the Texas economy. The cattle ranchers in Texas saw their economy destroyed, but that meant that there was a new market in the north. It is estimated that there were more than five million longhorn cattle in Texas and, if they could transport their cattle to the north, there was a huge market for them.

The market was bigger than the Texans expected. They found that if they could get their cattle to the north, they could make as much as 10 times the amount they were making in the south. The beef was becoming as big as the profits the ranchers were making from the skins.

A livestock trader in Chicago, Joseph McCoy wanted to bring more livestock to the north, and then distribute the cattle to the East. It worked for McCoy who built what was one of the first “cow towns’’ in Abilene, Texas. Abilene was near the end of a trail that had been established during the Civil War that stretched through Kansas. Homesteaders who had established themselves in Kansas objected because much of the cattle carried a tick that killed other animals that were indigenous to the area, but McCoy capitalized on the burgeoning freight industry to transport his livestock and it paid off well for him.

McCoy spent more than $5,000 on advertising and promised a good price for cattle that was sold in Abilene. In the next two decades, McCoy sold more than two million cattle from Abilene to Chicago. His reputation gave rise to the term “The Real McCoy.’’

Cattle Feedlots

Cattle feeding is concentrated in the Great Plains, but is also important in parts of the Corn Belt, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest. Cattle feedlots produce high-quality beef, grade Select or higher, by feeding grain and other concentrates for about 140 days. Depending on weight at placement, feeding conditions, and desired finish, the feeding period can be from 90 to as long as 300 days. Average gain is 2.5-4 pounds per day on about 6 pounds of dry-weight feed per pound of gain. While most of a calf's nutrient inputs until it is weaned are from grass, feedlot rations are generally 70 to 90 percent grain and protein concentrates.

Feedlots with less than 1,000 head of capacity comprise the vast majority of U.S. feedlots but market a relatively small share of fed cattle. In contrast, lots with 1,000 head or more of capacity comprise less than 5 percent of total feedlots but market 80-90 percent of fed cattle. Feedlots with 32,000 head or more of capacity market around 40 percent of fed cattle. The industry continues to shift toward a small number of very large specialized feedlots, which are increasingly vertically integrated with the cow-calf and processing sectors to produce high-quality fed beef. NASS provides monthly Cattle on Feed reports.