Beef cow numbers continue to drop

The beef cow breeding herd in Canada continues to drop, but it isn’t dropping as quickly in Saskatchewan as in other parts of the country. In the just released report from Statistics Canada, the number of beef cows in the country as of January 1 is pegged at 4.273 million, a decline of 2.7 per cent from a year earlier. Since the peak back in 2005, the beef cow inventory has dropped over 19 per cent. The biggest decline over those years has been in British Columbia. They’re down 37 per cent. The smallest decline since 2005 has been in Saskatchewan. We’re down just over 15 per cent. Alberta’s cow numbers have declined by 20 per cent, but they still have nearly 40 per cent of the national herd. Saskatchewan’s share of the national total has increased to nearly 31 per cent. No. 3 is Manitoba at just under 12 per cent, followed by Ontario at about 7.5 per cent. Across the country, there are over 67,000 cow-calf operations. The average herd remains pretty small at only 57 cows.

I’m Kevin Hursh.

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