Industry Statistics

Beef Industry Overview

• Most unique and complex lifecycle of any food, includes variety of segments
• Takes 2-3 years to bring beef from farm to fork

¹Data accessed 5/30/19 https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17832
^***Forcasted Values

ALL CATTLE AND CALVES
2010	$51,246,136
2011	$62,321,217
2012	$66,090,126
2013	$67,457,442
2014	$81,478,368
2015	$78,128,981
2016	$63,672,844
2017	$67,351,377
2018***	$66,510,424
2019***	$69,167,213

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Evolution of Beef Industry

• The U.S. beef production system used to be inefficient- cattle were moved around based on the location of grass at any given time
• The first widespread early cattle feedyards in the nation were built by cottonseed oil-mill operators in the 1850s to utilize mill by-products
• Around 1914, due to a drop in the number of cattle, we started feeding cattle at an earlier age, which resulted in higher-quality meat

 

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U.S. Beef Community

• Beef Cattle are raised in all 50 states
• Average age of a principle beef cattle rancher is 57.4  
• 913,246 total cattle & calf operations². Of these:
  • 727,906 are beef farms and ranches. Of these:
    • 91% are family-owned or individually-operated
    • 11% are operated by women
  • 26,586 are engaged in cattle feedlot production. Of these:
    • 80% are family-owned or individually operated
    • 5% are operated by women
  • 64,098 are milk cow operations
• All Cattle and Calves
  • 94.8 million - up slightly from 2018 (94.3 million)
• All Cattle on Feed
  • 14.4 million head - 2% increase from 2018 (14.1 million)
    • >1000 head capacity - 81.3% of cattle on feed
• Cows: Beef Cows
  • Beef: 31.8 million - 1% increase from 2018
  • Dairy: 9.35 million - 1% decrease from 2018
• Cows and Heifers that Calved
  • 41.1 million - 1% increase from 2018 (40.9 million)
• 2018 Calf Crop
  • 36.4 million head - 2% increase from 2017
    • Jan - June Calves
      • 26.6 million - 3% increase from 2017
    • July - Dec Calves
      • 9.8 million (27% of the total 2018 calf crop)
• Heifers over 500lbs
  • 20.2 million 
    • Beef Replacement Heifers
      • 5.92 million head - 3% decrease from 2018
    • Milk Replacement Heifers
      • 4.7 million head - 1% decrease from 2018
    • Other Heifers
      • 9.6 million head - 3% increase from 2018
• Steers over 500lbs
  • 16.6 million - 1% increase from 2018
• Bulls over 500lbs
  • 2.26 million
• Calves under 500lbs
  • 14.5 million - 1% increase from 2018
• Slaughter 
  • Commercial Slaughter: 33 million 
    • Calf: 579,800
  • Federally Inspected Slaughter: 32.5 million
    • Steer: 16.6 million
    • Heifer: 9.2 million
    • Cow: 6.2 million
      • Beef Cows - 3.02 million
      • Dairy Cows - 3.2 million
    • Bull: 537,600
    • Calf: 571,400
  • U.S. Beef Production
    • Federally Inspected - 26.5 billion lbs
    • Commercial - 26.9 billion lbs

 

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Top 5 States

• All Cattle
  • Texas: 13 million 
  • Nebraska: 6.8 million 
  • Kansas: 6.35 million 
  • Oklahoma: 5.3 million
  • California: 5.15 million
• Cows and Heifers that have Calved
  • Texas: 5.2 million 
  • California: 2.38 million 
  • Oklahoma: 2.19 million 
  • Missouri: 2.14 million 
  • Nebraska: 2 million 
• Beef Cows that have Calved
  • Texas: 4.66 million 
  • Oklahoma: 2.15 million
  • Missouri: 2.06 million
  • Nebraska: 1.94 million 
  • South Dakota: 1.82 million
• Dairy Cows that have Calved
  • California: 1.73 million
  • Wisconsin: 1.27 million
  • New York: 625,000
  • Idaho: 614,000 
  • Texas: 545,000
• Calf Crop
  • Texas: 4.75 million
  • Oklahoma: 2.05 million
  • Missouri: 1.94 million
  • South Dakota: 1.9 million
  • California: 1.86 million
• Cattle on Feed
  • Nebraska: 2.75 million
  • Texas: 2.75 million 
  • Kansas: 2.43 million 
  • Iowa: 1.32 million
  • Colorado: 1.05 million 
    
    
• Of the 30,320 feedlots in the U.S., those with less than 1,000 head of capacity compose the vast majority of U.S. feedlots (85.8%).⁵
• As of January 1, 2019, of the 14.37 million head on feed, feedlots with greater than 1,000 head capacity account for 81% of all cattle on feed.⁵
• The amount of beef consumed in the U.S. (i.e. purchased by consumers in foodservice and retail) in 2018 was 26.767 billion pounds.⁷
• The amount of beef consumed in the U.S. Per Capita in 2018 was 57.2 lbs.⁷
• Average price of USDA Choice beef sold in retail in 2018 was $6.24/lb⁸
  • $4.82 was the average retail price for all beef at retail in 2018
• Value of U.S. beef exports (including variety meat) in 2018: $8.332 billion, up from $7.269 billion in 2017.⁶
• Volume of beef export: 1.35 million metric tons in 2018 up from 1.26 metric tons in 2017. ⁶
  
• Top U.S. Beef Export Markets (including variety meat) for 2017

2018
Country	Metric Tons	Value ($Millions)
Japan	330,217	$2,077
South Korea	239,676	$1,747
Mexico	239,110	$1,058
Hong Kong	122,832	$966
Canada	114,039	$745
Taiwan	59,694	$550

 

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Resources:
¹U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 2016
²U.S. Department of Agriculture, Census of Agriculture, 2012
³Livestock Marketing Information Center, Jan. 1, 2016
⁴CattleFax Data 2016
⁵CME Group Daily Livestock Report 2016
⁶U.S. Meat Export Federation 2016
⁷USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand estimates, June 2019
⁸IRI/Freshlook, Total US MULO ending 5/26/2019; Categorized by VMMeat System

 

2018 National Cattlemen Directions Statistics