The article on the severe drought in the Sunday, March 19, edition of the Times and Free Press contained a major error. It said 800-pound cattle were bringing $2.81 a pound. That was a typographical error. It should have read $1.81 per pound for 800 weight cattle.

We apologize for the mistake.

Cattle are selling at higher prices, probably due to shorter beef cow numbers.

U.S. Department of Agriculture released estimates that beef cow numbers in the U.S are down by 3.5%, a one-half percent drop from Jan. 1, 2022.

Commonwealth Journal explained in an article by T.J. Adkins, UK Extension: “USDA-NASS released their January 1, 2023, cattle inventory estimates on the afternoon of Jan. 31. There was really no question that the beef cattle herd had gotten smaller; it was really just a question of how much smaller it had gotten. A combination of dry weather, higher input costs, and strong cull cow prices resulted in an 11% increase in beef cow slaughter during 2022. This was combined with a decrease in heifer retention as more heifers entered the beef supply chain. USDA estimated the number of beef cows in the US to be down by more than 1 million year-over year. This was a decrease of 3.5% and that was after a downward revision of about 0.5% to the January 1, 2022 estimate. This puts the size of the US cowherd below 2014 levels and the smallest since 1962.”

Oklahoma State University Extension reports the Oklahoma beef cow herd decreased by 140,000 head in 2022 (largest state decrease in the country) to a Jan. 1 total of 1.981 million head, a 6.6 percent decrease year over year and the lowest beef cow inventory since 2016.