07/26/05 Mid-year cattle inventory report

American Rancher July 26, 2005 The USDA has issued its mid-year inventory of the U.S. cattle herd. Gustafson: "Tends to suggest right now that our inventory is starting to increase but still at pretty modest levels." That's USDA livestock analyst Ron Gustafson who says the inventory of all cattle and calves in the U.S. is 104.5 million head. That is up barely a percent from a year ago. Gustafson: "Probably the most important aspect of the report is that we are seeing less than a half a percent increase in this year's calf crop estimate. So we are going to keep numbers fairly tight at least through most of the next year." So producers are reacting to the high cattle prices of the last two years, but cautiously so. Gustafson: "You know we have been under a fairly continuous drought period since 98. A lot of uncertainty yet on how the Canadian market is going to react." The inventory report showed beef and milk cow numbers up one percent from a year ago. Beef replacement heifer numbers up four percent. Dairy heifer replacements were up three percent. As for feeder cattle supplies. Gustafson: "Not a lot of change in our feeder cattle supplies. They are about unchanged from a year ago. So we are not going to see a tremendous change in our production pattern in beef." The current feedlot inventory is up over a year ago by three percent. I'm Bob Hoff.