Drought devastated feed production on the northern Plains last year. This year, the drought has shifted south, focusing on Texas and Oklahoma, the two most important cow-calf states in the United States.
In addition to high feed costs, cattle producers also face the effects of much higher fuel costs and all the other components of damaging inflation.
In Canada, the number of beef cows fell to 3.5 million as of Jan. 1 of this year. That was the smallest since the 3.48 million counted at the same point in 1990, following the drought years in the late 1980s.
In the U.S. on Jan. 1, the beef cow herd stood at 30.13 million, down 2.3 percent from the previous year.
Cow slaughter this year in the U.S. is up 14.6 percent over last year at the same point.
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