The Canadian cattle herd has recorded its first year-over-year increase since 2018.
Statistics Canada reports as of January 1st, there were 11.1 million cattle and calves on Canadian farms and ranchers, or 2.3 percent more than a year ago.
Here are some numbers that show a potential move to increase the size of the Canadian beef herd. The number of beef heifers for breeding were up 4.8 percent and beef cows were 1.9 percent higher compared to the previous year. Looking at Saskatchewan numbers, there were 2,050,000 head of beef cattle on January 1st , an increase of nearly 35,000 over the past year. On January first, there were 200,700 beef heifers in Saskatchewan — an increase of 3,700 from the same period one year ago. There were 12,900 Saskatchewan farms with cattle and calves at the start of this year, or 175 more than the beginning of 2025.
Back to the national numbers, StatsCan says the slaughter of cattle and calves fell by 6.5 percent to 1.6 million head. International exports drooped by nearly 9 percent to just over 365,000. Despite decreases, feeder and slaughter cattle prices climbed to record highs over the later half of 2025 on global demand.
Moving to hogs, national inventories were down 0.8 percent to 13.9 million, while international exports of live hogs were up eight percent to 3.5 million. Hogs slaughter rose 1.8 percent to 10.9 million head. Hog numbers numbers in Saskatchewan declined 20,000 to sit at 925,000 on January 1st.
Canadian sheep and lamb inventories were up three percent to 833,00 head. The sheep breeding herd was up 2.2 percent, while producer prices for slaughter lambs fell well below those in the previous six months.
(with files from Neil Billinger, CJWW)
