Last week’s Industry At A Glance focused specifically on cattle imports. A couple of key items were highlighted in that discussion:

With that in mind, this week’s illustration highlights annual imports with respect to beef and dairy and cow inventories since 2005, when imports picked back up following BSE in Canada. On a ’05 versus ‘18 basis, the totals look like this:

Related:Impact of cattle imports from Canada and Mexico

The last point may be the most important. There are a number of initiatives underway to increasingly utilize dairy cows in beef breeding systems. That stems from ongoing consolidation and ready access to a large number of cows, year-around calving and consistent genetics.

Meanwhile, new technologies, including sexed semen and decreasing costs associated with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), are enabling dairy producers to focus on producing heifers from high-producing females. That allows opportunity for more cows to be bred to beef bulls. That number could, someday, reach as high as two-thirds of the dairy population. But even at half, it represents over 4.5 million head. 

When it comes to imports, conventional wisdom sometimes goes like this: Imported cattle displace opportunities for domestic beef producers. However, given the potential around dairy/beef systems, the concern about imports may be misplaced and largely muted in the future (not to mention the dairy herd outgrew imports by a factor of over 3X since 2005).  

Based on this data, what’s your perception of the importance of how this might play out in the future? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Nevil Speer serves as an industry consultant and is based in Bowling Green, KY. Contact him at [email protected].

Related:What’s the big deal with beef and China, anyway? Or Canada, for that matter