(NAFB.com) – USDA just released its Cattle report. Any way you work the corral, there’s fewer heifers in that corral with each passing year as dairy farmers pivot to breeding dairy cows to native beef bulls to capitalize on record beef prices. That trend will not slow down anytime soon, as live cattle futures have pushed into the $200-per-cwt range and represent an all-time high. In its latest estimate, published in late January, USDA projects there are 3.914 million dairy heifers in the 500-pounds-and-higher category. Generally speaking, those dairy heifers 500 pounds and larger are either ready to enter breeding pens or those that are pregnant and will soon enter the milk barn. That 3.914 million total is the lowest since 1978, when USDA calculated that there were 3.886 million heifers in that herd category.