The slowdown in dairy cull cow marketing is being driven by a smaller milking herd, limited availability of replacement heifers to maintain full barns and slight improvements in milk income margins.
Based on latest USDA monthly data released May 23, the number of dairy cull cows marketed through U.S. slaughter plants in April 2024 was estimated at 238,200. While down 6,400 from March, it was 5,400 fewer than April 2023 and the lowest April total since 2022.
Through May 4, USDA Ag Marketing Service estimates indicate the number of dairy cows marketed for beef has now trailed year-ago levels for 35 consecutive weeks, dating back to Sept. 9, 2023, and was down 234,900 from the same period a year earlier.
April 2023 had 25 non-holiday weekdays and Saturdays while April 2024 had 26 days. Slaughter averaged 9,400 head per business day this year, down about 100 from a year earlier.
The USDA estimated there were 9.34 million dairy cows in U.S. herds in April 2024, down 8,000 from the revised March estimate and putting the April culling rate at about 2.6% of the herd. Based on the monthly data, year-to-date (January-April) dairy cull cow slaughter now stands at about 985,700 head, down 128,400 from the same period a year ago and the lowest four-month total to start the year since 2014.
Read: April milk production lower as cow numbers decline
Heaviest dairy cow culling during March occurred in the Upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) at 58,700 head. That was followed in the Southwest (Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada) at 55,500 head.
Other monthly regional totals were estimated at 33,200 head in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; 32,400 head in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia; and 30,200 head in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Primary data for the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter report is obtained from reports from about 900 federally inspected plants and nearly 1,900 state-inspected or custom-exempt slaughter plants.
