Beef Industry Overview
Beef has the most unique and complex lifecycle of any food produced in the United States. The cattle and beef industry includes a variety of distinct segments, and it takes 2-3 years to bring beef from farm to fork.
ALL CATTLE AND CALVES
Annual Cash Receipts
|
|
2012
|
$66,090,126
|
|
2013
|
$67,849,440
|
|
2014
|
$81,076,720
|
|
2015
|
$78,252,807
|
|
2016
|
$63,691,327
|
|
2017
|
$66,936,726
|
|
2018
|
$67,038,059
|
|
2019
|
$66,239,043
|
|
2020
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$62,013,996
|
|
2021
|
$65,958,605
|
Source: USDA
U.S. Beef Community
- Beef cattle are raised in all 50 states
- Average age of a cattle producer is 58.3
882,692 total cattle & calf operations. Of these:
- 802,317 are cow/calf and stocker/backgrounder cattle farms and ranches
- 96% are family owned and operated
- 9% are operated by women
- 28,180 are feedlot production operations.(80% family owned.)
- 54,599 are dairy herds
- All Cattle and Calves
- 93.6 million – 1% decrease from 2020 (93.8 million)
- All Cattle on Feed
- 14.7 million – comparable to 2020 (14.7 million)
- >1000 head feedlot capacity – 81.4% cattle
- Cows
- Beef: 31.2 million head, down 1% from 2020
- Milk: 9.44 million head, down 1% from 2020
- Cows and Heifers that Calved
- 40.69 million head – slightly below 2020 (40.7 million)
- Heifers 500lbs and over
- 20 million head – comparable to 2020 (20 million)
- Beef Replacement Heifers
- 5.81 million, up slightly from 2020
- Milk Replacement Heifers
- 4.60 million, down 2% from 2020
- Other Heifers
- 9.58 million, 1% increase from 2020
- Steers 500lbs and over
- 16.6 million head – up slightly from 2020
- Bulls 500lbs and over
- 2.21 million head – down 1% from 2020
- Calves under 500lbs
- 2.21 million head – down 1% from 2020
- 2020 Calf Crop
- 35.1 million head – down 1% from 2019
- Jan.– June Calves: 25.8 million head - down 1% from 2019
- July – Dec. Calves: 9.39 million head (27% of the total 2019 calf crop)
Top 5 States
- All Cattle
- Texas: 13.1 million
- Nebraska: 6.85 million
- Kansas: 6.5 million
- Oklahoma: 5.3 million
- California: 5.15 million
- Cows and Heifers that have Calved
- Texas: 5.3 million
- California: 2.39 million
- Oklahoma: 2.23 million
- Missouri: 2.16 million
- Nebraska: 1.96 million
- Beef Cows that have Calved
- Texas: 4.69 million
- Oklahoma: 2.19 million
- Missouri: 2.04 million
- Nebraska: 1.9 million
- South Dakota: 1.8 million
- Dairy Cows that have Calved
- California: 1.72 million
- Wisconsin: 1.26 million
- Idaho: 646,000
- New York: 625,000
- Texas: 615,000
- Calf Crop
- Texas: 4.6 million
- Oklahoma: 1.95 million
- Missouri: 1.91 million
- California: 1.84 million
- South Dakota: 1.78 million
- Cattle on Feed
- Texas: 2.89 million
- Nebraska: 2.72 million
- Kansas: 2.66 million
- Iowa: 1.17 million
- Colorado: 1.14 million
Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service
Leading Beef Exports
January 2020-January 2021
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Country
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Metric Tons
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Value ($Millions)
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South Korea
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20,734
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$154,553,000
|
|
Japan
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18,368
|
$113,262,000
|
|
Hong Kong/China
|
10,884
|
$86,459,000
|
|
Mexico
|
10,514
|
$68,249,000
|
|
Canada
|
9,173
|
$60,139,000
|
Leading Variety Meat Exports
January 2020-January 2021
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|
Country or Region
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Metric Tons
|
Value ($Millions)
|
|
Japan
|
3,650
|
$24,797,000
|
|
Mexico
|
7,531
|
$19,581,000
|
|
Middle East
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5,451
|
$6,946,000
|
|
South Korea
|
621
|
$4,170,000
|
|
Hong Kong/China
|
822
|
$3,986,000
|
Source: U.S. Meat Export Federation
Sources:
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, 2020 & 2021
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Census of Agriculture, 2017
U.S. Meat Export Federation, 2021