(NAFB.com) – All cattle and calves in the United States as of January 1, 2025, totaled 86.7 million head, one percent below the 87.2 million head on January 1, 2024. All cows and heifers that have calved at 37.2 million head were slightly below the 37.4 million head last year. Beef cows, at 27.9 million head, were down one percent from a year ago. Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. for all feedlots totaled 14.3 million head on January 1, 2025. That inventory is down one percent from the January 1, 2024, total of 14.4 million head. The USDA report says cattle on feed in feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head accounted for 82.7 percent of the total cattle on feed on January 1, 2025. The 2024 calf crop in the U.S. was estimated at 33.5 million head, down slightly from the previous year’s calf crop.