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The Midwest Cattleman · August 5, 2021 · P3














                     August 5, 2021   Volume 27   No. 6



                SEVERE DROUGHT IN THE WEST                                     INVENTORY REPORT: SHRINKING CATTLE
                         By American Farm Bureau Federation                                  SUPPLIES CONFIRMED
         Severe drought                                                                               By Greg Henderson
      in the West is forc-                                                    USDA’s semi-annual Cat- slightly from the first half of
      ing many farmers                                                      tle Inventory report confirms  2020. An additional 9.3 mil-
      and ranchers to                                                       the  U.S. inventories of  beef  lion calves are expected to be
      make the toughest                                                     cows, replacement heifers,  born during the second half
      of choices – selling                                                  feeder cattle and  calf sup- of this year.
      their livestock and                                                   plies are declining. The ongo-       With its mid-year inven-
      destroying     crops                                                  ing drought in the West and  tory, USDA surveys 10,000
      –  according  to  a                                                   Northern Plains will acceler- operations compared to the
      Farm Bureau sur-                                                      ate the trend.                    50,000 producers surveyed
      vey of producers in                                                     USDA’s survey indicated  for the January 1 inventory.
      13 Western states.                                                    all cattle and calves totaled        All cows and heifers that
         Nearly 80% of                   drought range this time last       101  million  head  on  July  1,  have calved totaled 40.9 mil-
      the West, including North and      year.                              about 1% below the 102 mil- lion head, 1% below the 41.4
      South Dakota, is in severe            Many of the areas experi-       lion head counted in the mid- million head on July 1, 2020.
      drought.  That percentage is       encing drought are key areas       year report last year.            Milk cows, at 9.50 million
      even more staggering when          for grazing livestock, but the       USDA’s July 1 count of beef  head, up  2% from previous
      compared to the 20% of the         parched land is offering less      cows was 31.4 million head,  year.
      region that fell into the severe                continued on page 10 down 2% from a year ago.              All heifers 500 pounds and
                                                                            Analysts expect the drought  over  on  July  1  totaled  16.0
       ANIMAL AG GROUPS LAUNCH PROTEIN PACT                                 to further reduce those num- million head, 1% below the

         Twelve organizations repre- Animals, and Climate of  To-           bers throughout 2021. Given  16.2 million head last year.
      senting farmers and companies  morrow - the first joint initia-       the smaller cow herd, US- Beef replacement heifers,
      who make the vast majority of  tive of its kind designed to ac-       DA’s preliminary calf crop es- at 4.30 million head, down
      America’s meat, poultry, and  celerate momentum and verify            timate was 35.1 million head,  2% from a year ago. Milk re-
      dairy, as well as animal feed  progress toward global sustain-        down slightly from last year.  placement heifers, at  4.10
      and ingredients, unveiled the  able development goals across          Calves born during the first  million head, up 3% from pre-
      Protein PACT for the People,  all animal protein sectors.             half of 2021 were estimat- vious year. Other heifers, at
                                            The Protein PACT has been       ed at 25.8 million head, up  7.60 million head, 3% below
                                         submitted to the UN Food Sys-                                                          a year earlier.
                                         tems Summit as a sustain-                                                                 The supply
                                         ability game changer, and sus-                                                         of feeder cat-
                                         tainable livestock and poultry                                                         tle and calves
                                         production was featured in a                                                           outside feed-
                                         side event at the Food Systems                                                         lots is es-
                                         Summit ministerial in Rome                                                             timated      at
                                         on Tuesday, July 27.                                                                   800,000 head
                                                                                                                                smaller than
                                                      continued on page 14
                                                                                                                                year-ago lev-
         FARM REFORM ACT A “DIRECT ATTACK” ON                                                                                   els at 49.5
           CATTLE PRODUCTION NCBA’S LANE SAYS                                                                                   million head.
                                  By Katie James                                                                                Drovers
         Last month, New Jersey
      Sen. Cory Booker re-introduced
      his Farm System Reform Act, a
      bill he says would  “transform
      a broken system.” Similar leg-
      islation was introduced in the                                                                         Coming Sales-30
      House by Congressman Ro                                                                                Life is Simple-5
      Khanna (D-CA). The lawmak-                                                                             Market Report-8
      ers claim the legislation will                                                                         Agribusiness
      “create  a  level  playing  field”
      for independent family farms,                                                                          Directory-28
      Drovers’ Greg Henderson re-
      ports.
                    continued on page 14
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