Dairy Week In Review

Based on the January 2026 USDA Cattle Inventory Report, all cows and
heifers that have calved totaled 37.2 million head, down slightly from 37.3
million head from January 2025. Milk cow numbers reached 9.57 million head,
up 2.0 percent from the prior year and the highest since 1993. However, U.S.
milk cow number growth has slowed over the past couple years as fewer cows
leave the herd but replacements become increasingly more difficult to source.
U.S. dairy cow slaughter rates totaled 2.53 million head in 2025, a new low for
the decade and well below approximately 3 million head slaughtered annually
in several prior years before 2024.

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