Livestock estimates, July 1, 2012

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Cattle and calf inventories on Canadian farms declined slightly between July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2012 to reach their lowest level since 1994. At the same time, hog inventories rose 1.5% while sheep inventories were up 0.6%.

Farmers had 13.5 million cattle and calves on their farms as of July 1, down 0.1% from the same date in 2011. The cattle herd shrunk 1.2% from July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011, following a steady decline from its peak in 2005.

As of July 1, 84,040 farms reported beef or dairy cattle, down 2.2% from the same date in 2011.

The Canadian dairy herd declined 0.1%. A 0.5% decrease in the inventory of dairy cows was partially offset by a 0.6% increase in replacement dairy heifers.

The beef herd remained virtually unchanged in the wake of a 3.5% increase in beef replacement heifers.

During the first six months of 2012, 1.6 million head of Canadian cattle and calves were sent to slaughter. This was a 2.2% decline from the same period in 2011 and 13.6% below the level for the same period in 2010.

Farmers exported 398,900 head of live cattle and calves during the first half of 2012, up 6.6% from the same period in 2011. However, exports remained 36.0% below the level for the first six months of 2010.

Hog inventories continued their rebound, increasing 1.5% from July 1, 2011 to 12.9 million. This followed a 1.3% increase in the previous year, which in turn followed five years of declines. As of July 1, hog inventories had risen in three consecutive quarters.

On July 1, 7,200 farms reported hogs, down 1.8% from the same date of 2011.

Farmers reported 1.2 million sows and gilts, a 1.1% increase from July 1, 2011. This total was down 0.7% from two years earlier.

During the second quarter of 2012, domestic hog slaughter totalled 5.1 million head, a 1.1% increase from the second quarter of 2011, but 0.2% below the level for the same period in 2010.

Total hog exports reached 1.6 million head, up 8.3% from the second quarter of 2011. Exports remained 34.7% below the second-quarter peak of 2.4 million in 2007.

Farmers reported 1.1 million sheep, up 0.6% from July 1, 2011. Sheep inventories fell in two provinces: Alberta (-1.0%) and Quebec (-1.1%). They were unchanged in British Columbia. The biggest relative increases occurred in Manitoba (+4.4%) and Saskatchewan (+3.3%).

Inventories rose 0.6% for ewes, 1.5% for replacement lambs and 0.5% for market lambs compared with July 1, 2011. During the first six months of 2012, 329,500 sheep and lambs were sent to slaughter, up 1.3% from the same period in 2011. Canada exported 2,600 lambs during the first half of 2012, down 31.6%. Imports of sheep and lambs fell 31.2%.

Note to readers

As a result of a change in the Hog Survey frequency, quarterly hog statistics will not be published in October 2012. The next semi-annual hog statistics will be released in February 2013.

The publications Cattle Statistics (Catalogue number23-012-X) and Sheep Statistics (Catalogue number23-011-X) have been discontinued. The last issue of the Hog Statistics (Catalogue number23-010-X) is published with this release. The data previously contained in these publications continue to be available without charge in CANSIM.

Cattle and sheep inventory data from July 2007 to January 2012 and hog inventory data from July 2007 to April 2012 have been revised following the 2011 Census of Agriculture data.

Available without charge in CANSIM: tables CANSIM table003-0004, CANSIM table003-0026, CANSIM table003-0028, CANSIM table003-0031, CANSIM table003-0032, CANSIM table003-0083, CANSIM table003-0085, CANSIM table003-0087 to 003-0089, CANSIM table003-0092 to 003-0094, CANSIM table003-0098 and CANSIM table003-0099.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers survey number3460 and survey number3465.

The second quarter 2012 issue of Hog Statistics, Vol. 11, no. 3 (Catalogue number23-010-X, free), is now available from the Key resource module of our website under Publications.

For more information on this release, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (613-951-8116; toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).

To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Bishnu Saha (613-951-6051; bishnu.saha@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.