Canadian Livestock Inventories Decline

OTTAWA - Feb 15/07 - SNS -- Canadian livestock inventories declined for the second year in a row, with the total number of cattle, sheep and hogs on hand s of January 1 down from last year, according to Statistics Canada.

The decrease reflects a continued decline in Canadian cattle numbers. They fell 515,000 head in 2006 in the wake of renewed live cattle exports to the United States. Last year marked the first full year the border has been open to Canadian cattle shipments since 2002.

As of January 1, 2007, cattlemen reported 14.3 million head on their farms, down 3.5% from the previous year and 748,000 below the January record established in 2005, when closed borders forced producers to keep more of their farm stock off the market.

Despite the drop, the 2007 inventory was still 827,000 above the January 1, 2003 level, prior to the border closure, according to the annual January Livestock Survey of 10,000 producers.

The American border was reopened to live cattle under 30 months of age on July 18, 2005. The ban on Canadian cattle and beef took effect after the disclosure of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on May 20, 2003.

In general, inventories in the West rose during the early 1990s as farmers increased production in response to expanding export markets. With the closure of the US markets, thousands of cattle were held back on Canadian farms. As the cattle inventories trend lower, the Canadian industry is returning to the way it was before the borders were closed.

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