Canadian Cattle Numbers Down but Rate of Decline Slows

The Canadian cattle herd continued to shrink in 2024, hitting its lowest in 37 years, although the rate of decline did slow. A Statistics Canada livestock inventory report on Tuesday pegged the total nationwide number of cattle on Canadian farms as of Jan. 1, 2025 at 10.94 million. That is down 0.7% from a year earlier and the lowest Jan. 1 total since 1988 at 10.75 million. However, StatsCan noted the size of latest annual contraction in the national herd was less than in 2023 (-2.1%) and in 2022 (-2.2%), following some improvement in Prairie drought and feed availability over the past year. Jan. 1 cattle numbers in Canada peaked in 2005 at just under 15 million, mainly due to the first discovery of BSE in a Canadian-born cow in May 2003, which temporarily closed international markets to Canadian cattle and beef. The herd has mostly been in decline ever since, with more recent Prairie drought and tight feed supplies adding to the downward momentum. Canadian cattle producers re