Summer Cattle Inventory Reports Suspended by USDA
There will be no cattle inventory reports released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) this summer due to budget cuts.
Before last week's announcement the July Cattle Report was scheduled to be released on July 22, followed by the U.S. and Canadian Cattle Report scheduled for August 23.
Typically NASS releases two versions of both reports, one during the winter and one in the summer. NASS already released the January Cattle Report on Jan. 29 and the U.S. and Canadian Cattle Report on March 8.
According to a statement by USDA, a review was put in place before the decision was made to suspend the summer inventory reports.
“The decision to suspend this report was not made lightly, but was necessary, given our available fiscal and program resources. We will continue to review our federal agricultural statistical programs using the same criteria to ensure we provide timely, accurate and useful statistics,” the USDA statement goes onto say.
This year’s January Cattle Report showed the U.S. cattle inventory stood at 92 million head, an increase of 3%.