Contraction Continues In The Cattle Industry
Brownfield
An ag economist says there’s still no signs of expansion in the cattle herd. Josh Maples with Mississippi State University Extension says 2025 was another year of contraction.
“This is the seventh consecutive year of declines,” he says. “This is our smallest total since 1951. We said that last year because that was true of last year’s report and now this number is lower than last year’s.”
The estimated number of beef cows on January 1 was a percent below 2025.
He tells Brownfield that was one of the few surprises in the report. “Beef cow slaughter totals were down pretty sharply in 2025,” he says. “That stat alone kind of led us to think that the total beef cow number as we came into 2026 would either be pretty much unchanged from a year ago or maybe even slightly higher than a year ago.”
Heifers held back for beef cow replacements did increase almost a percent from the previous year. But, Maples says this is not a sign of expansion. “The number is still too low of a actual number of heifers to be a clear signal of expansion,” he says. “Even though it’s higher than a year ago.”
The 2025 calf crop also declined for the seventh consecutive year, and was down more than 1.5 percent from 2024.
Maples says the report is bullish for cattle markets.