There were 11.1 million cattle and calves on Canadian farms as of January 1st, according to Statistics Canada.
Drought conditions and tight feed supplies, plus good prices, resulted in some breeding stock going to feedlots. Canadian cattle producers held 0.7 per cent fewer feeder heifers and three per cent fewer calves compared with January 1st, 2023.
The flow of cattle between Canada and the United States ended up in our favor last year. Statistics Canada says imports of live cattle dropped nearly 26 per cent to 153,400 head while international exports rose 14 per cent to a little over 389,000 head.
Average warm carcass weight has increased 18 per cent over the past 25 years, which has helped offset the decline in beef production.
There were 2,042,000 head of beef cattle in Saskatchewan on January 1st—down 3.3 per cent or 70,000 head from the beginning of 2023. It is a steeper decline of nearly 4.5 per cent on cow/calf operations. There were 1,751,100 head at the start of the year, down 82,500 from January 1st, 2023. Part of that can be attributed to the number of Saskatchewan farms reporting cattle and calves. On January first it was 12,835—or 275 fewer than the same time one year ago. The average number of cattle and calves per farm reporting was fairly steady at 163, down only 2 head from the previous year.
Canadian hog producers reported 13.8 million hogs on their farms on January 1, 2024, down 1.0% from the same date one year earlier. Quebec’s hog inventories declined 4.8 per cent amid the closure of a Quebec pork plant and herd-reducing program payments, while Manitoba’s inventories increased 2.4 per cent year over year. The Saskatchewan hog population was 945,000, down 5,000 from the previous year.
On January 1, , Canadian inventories of sheep and lambs were down 2.2 per cent year over year to 828,300 head. The total number of sheep and lamb were slightly lower at 146,900.