Jan 8, 2025 · The cow is maintained on pasture year-round, as is the calf until it is weaned. Based on the USDA, NASS 2017 Census of Agriculture, the average beef cow herd is about 44 head. Operations with 50 or fewer head are often part of multi-enterprises, or they provide supplemental income to off-farm employment.

Aug 26, 2024 · The cow-calf stage in raising beef cattle is part of the U.S. agricultural landscape, with a wide variation in farm revenue and production practices across the States. Unlike other sectors in which farms are becoming larger, a relatively high percentage of beef cow-calf enterprises are still small scale.

Dec 11, 2024 · Using cow-calf data from USDA’s 2018 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, researchers at USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) estimated average costs of production per cow for five cow-calf farm size categories: 20–49 cows, 50–99 cows, 100–249 cows, 250–499 cows, and 500 cows or more.

Jun 16, 2011 · The beef cow-calf industry is characterized by a large number of small farms, along with several large farms, on which beef cattle production is a secondary source of farm household income. This suggests that beef cow-calf production as a lifestyle choice is at least as important as earning a profit on many farms.

Mar 17, 2025 · See the latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report.. Report Summary. Beef/Cattle: The 2025 beef production outlook is raised by 120 million pounds from last month to 26.685 billion pounds.

Jan 8, 2025 · Nevertheless, the United States is a net beef importer, purchasing lower-value, grass-fed beef destined for processing. The U.S. industry is roughly divided into two production sectors: cow-calf operations and cattle feeding. Because the cattle/beef industry depends on feed grains, grain supplies and prices affect beef production.

Jul 27, 2023 · The cow-calf segment of the U.S. beef industry is diverse in farm size, structure, and location, with farms located in every State and ranging from very small to very large. Modest structural change has occurred in this segment over the past two decades, resulting in moderately fewer farms that produce more animals and are more specialized in ...

Aug 17, 2023 · Unlike many other animal production operations, cow-calf farms generally do not require a major upfront investment in capital assets specific to cow-calf production, such as housing. The combination of relatively lower cow-calf specific startup costs and pasture as a primary source of feed has resulted in a variety of operation sizes on a range ...

Cost and return estimates are reported for the United States and major production regions for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, peanuts, oats, barley, milk, hogs, and cow-calf. The series of commodity cost and return estimates for the U.S. and regions is divided into Recent and Historical estimates. Recent estimates date back ...

Mar 28, 2011 · Beef cow-calf production in the United States is widespread, occurring in every State. Nearly 765,000 farms, about 35 percent of the 2.2 million farms in the United States, had a beef cow inventory in 2007.