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The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week reported that all cattle and calves in the United States and Canada combined totaled 110.6 million head on Jan. 1, down slightly from a year ago.
All cows and heifers that have calved, at 47.7 million head, was down 1 percent from a year ago.
In the United States, all cattle and calves totaled 96.7 million head, slightly below the 97 million on Jan. 1, 2007, but virtually unchanged from the 96.7 million two years ago.
All cattle and calves in Canada totaled 13.9 million head, down 1 percent from the 14.2 million on Jan. 1, 2007, and 5 percent below the 14.7 million two years ago.
All cows and heifers that have calved, at 5.97 million, was down 1 percent from the 6.02 million on Jan. 1, 2007, and 5 percent below the 6.27 million from two years ago.
The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service reported that cattle imports into the United States remained strong through the end of 2007. Cattle imports for 2007 are estimated at 2.5 million head, up from 2.289 million head in 2006.
The increase was mainly due to feeder cattle from Canada, although imports of slaughter cattle were above those of last year.
Last year, the USDA opened up the border with Canada allowing cattle older than 30 months to cross the border also contributed to the increase in total imports.
According to weekly import reports for early 2008, the USDA said the number of feeder cattle presently entering from Canada is similar to the past two years. This year will be the first full year since 2003 that slaughter cows and bulls, as well as breeding males and females, are eligible to be exported to the United States from Canada. That should keep 2008 imports above those of 2007.
The forecast for cattle imports into the United States for 2008 is 2.6 million head.
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