Source: Iowa State University
Dairy cow slaughter is up 2 percent year to date and has some similarly large ranges around culling. The largest percent change in slaughter regions is region 6(AR, LA, NM, OK & TX), up 26 percent from last year, followed by region 10(AK, ID, OR & WA), up 16 percent, and region 9(AZ, CA, HI & NV), up 6 percent. The remaining regions have seen a decrease in dairy cow slaughter.
The largest decline has been in region 8(CO, MT, ND, SD, UT & WY), 40 percent lower than last year. Region 7(IA, KS, MO & NE) was the second largest decline, 25 percent lower than a year ago. All other regions were all down less than 8 percent.
The drought, for most, has significantly improved as have the grazing abilities. However, for slaughter region 7 (IA, KS, MO & NE), drought remains at the forefront of beef cow culling decisions.
