(Area) Jim Skartvedt, of Renew Ag Supply, appearing on Monday Morning’s “The Stockmen’s Review” Program, with Kevin Fergason, talked about a recent article from Drover’s Magazine on how the cattle industry has progressed in efficiency over the past 50-years.
Skartvedt says 50-years ago, beef exports were 87-million pounds, 48 times less than currently exported out of the U.S. into the world.
Skartvedt says some cattle breeders are pulling bull calves off the cow with 1,000-pound weaning weights, including some breeders in southwest Iowa.
Skartvedt says this country has a hunger for protein. He says the animal agriculture world has done a “fantastic” job of utilizing genetics and the environment, thus a more efficient job of putting food on the table.
On Monday, the USDA reported all cattle and calves in the United States of January 1, 2022, totaled 91.9 million head, 2% below the 93.8 million head on January 1, 2021. All cows and heifers have calved, 2% percent below one year ago. Beef cows down 2%, and milk cows down 1%. Steers weighing 500 pounds and over down 2%, beef and the calf crop declined %.
