United States-Beef herd lowest since 1951.

UNITED STATES- The USDA will release on Friday afternoon, the results of its semi-annual survey of US cattle operations, providing an estimate of the number of cattle and calves as of January 1, 2009.

The report should provide a good overview of the current state of the US cattle industry and how the US cow-calf operators have responded to a generally negative year in 2008.

The average of analysts estimates indicates they expect beef replacement heifers, animals held back for herd rebuilding, to be down 2.3%, pointing to continued future reductions in the US beef cow herd.

The US beef cow herd, which are animals that will produce calves this spring, is expected to be down 1.2% from year ago levels. If this proves to be correct, it would put the total beef cow inventory as of January 1 at 32.162 million head, the smallest beef cow inventory since 1963.

The total US cow inventory as of January 1 is expected to be down 1%, and at an implied inventory number of 41.359 million head, this would be the smallest cow inventory since 1950. The annual calf crop of 2008 is currently expected to be down 0.7%, and at 37.099 million calves, this would be the smallest calf crop since 1951.