The cow-calf stage in raising beef cattle is part of the U.S. agricultural landscape, with a wide variation in farm revenue and production practices across the United States. Unlike other sectors in which farms are becoming larger, a relatively large percentage of beef cow-calf enterprises are still small-scale.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s latest Census of Agriculture, more than 622,000 of the 1.9 million U.S. farms — about 33 percent — had at least one beef cow at the end of 2022. Of those farms, about 55 percent had fewer than 20 beef cows.
The USDA Economic Research Service researchers suggested in 2011 that beef-cow-calf farming was likely a “lifestyle choice” for many farms, based on factors including farm size and owner characteristics. A more-recent Economic Research Service study showed cow-calf farming continues to be attractive to many farmers for whom lifestyle is likely a primary motivator of farm decision-making.
Currently beef cow-calf operations vary by size, occupation of the primary operator and income. Using those distinctions, researchers identified three categories of farms for the study — rural residence, intermediate and commercial.
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In 2018 about 39 percent of beef-cow-calf farms were rural-residence farms. Rural-residence farms held 23 percent of the total U.S. beef-cow inventory that year. On those farms 87 percent of total farm-production value was from cattle.
Seventy-three percent were cow-calf only, which means they sold their calves shortly after weaning instead of keeping them for subsequent phases of cattle production. Those farms rely on off-farm income — such as retirement income, or wage and salary jobs — to cover household and farm expenses.
In contrast, intermediate cow-calf farms depend upon the farm for the majority of their household income; a smaller percentage are cow-calf only. Even for farms that raise crops or other production animals, their household incomes may face income risk through fluctuations in cattle and input prices, as well as weather and disease.
In 2018 an estimated 8 percent of beef-cow-calf farms were commercial farms, but those farms held 28 percent of the total U.S. beef-cow inventory. On commercial cow-calf farms, 46 percent of total farm-production value was from cattle. There were 57 percent involved in later phases of cattle production — such as the stocker segment, in which calves are fed on pasture for additional weight gain before sale, or finishing, where animals are fed on the farm until they reach slaughter weight.
The U.S. beef-cow-calf industry includes many small farms, in terms of gross cash farm income, where the farm is not the primary source of income for the farm household. That suggests that while farm profitability is likely an important consideration for those farm operators, lifestyle can also be a factor motivating farm decision-making. Visit www.ers.usda.gov for more information.
