Beef cattle numbers TX and US

"Nationally, the number of beef cows dropped just over 1%, a sharper decline than many market analysts expected, said David Anderson, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension economist.

In Texas, the nation's largest beefproducing state, cow numbers dipped by about 30,000 head, but producers held back 50,000 more heifers an 8% increase in replacements that could signal the early stages of a slow rebuild, Anderson said.

Sid Miller is proposing this to help the numbers….

Heifer tax credit

B-1 83 said:

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Sid Miller is proposing this to help the numbers….

Heifer tax credit

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Good `ol boy Sid often promotes programs, before he thinks it through...
Have to wonder how a program like that, would have any credible oversight.

HTownAg98 said:

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Newsflash: as soon as it rains, ranchers will start holding back heifers. But with prices as how they are, if your pastures are dry, you might as well sell them, or at least reduce herd size.

This is one of those rare times where you can be in a drought and actually make money selling off.

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While this is true, there just simply isn't enough ranchers or acres left to get back to where numbers used to be.

If screwworms really hit Texas hard, I expect cattle numbers to drop even further.

dude, it is dry. In Brazos county, my ponds are 5' low and any winter pasture we had was wiped by that 17 F temp we had. Last time my tanks were this low was in early 2012 after that bad drought of '10-'11. Then in February we got an 8 inch rain and filled everything up. We swore then we would never let our hay inventory get as low as it had gotten. I think we had 3 square bales left when our first cutting was completed in 2012.