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Beef Cattle StatisticsSummary
The Number of Cattle People Keep Worldwide
For the source of these figures see Notes, below.The Number of Cattle People Kill Worldwide
For the source of these figures see Notes, below.NotesNotes for Table 1 Table 1 is based on 'Live Cattle Selected Countries Summary'. 'Total Cattle Beginning Stocks' plus 'Production (Calf Crop)' In Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade. United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Global Analysis. Circular Series DL&P 2-07 November 2007. www.fas.usda.gov (web site accessed February 2008). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) state their data are based on "USDA-FAS attach� reports, official statistics, and results of office research". USDA say the cattle are adults and calves raised for meat and exclude dairy cattle but include buffalo for India. The USDA figures for 2007 are preliminary and are estimates for 2008. USDA data included two classes of cattle: 'Total Beginning Stocks' and 'Production Crop'. Total Beginning Stocks are the animals alive at the start of the year and most of these animals are used to breed the Production Crop for the year. Virtually all the Production Stock is killed for food (some would replace Beginning Stock). The figures in this table include both categories. The World Total in this table is a minimum figure. One reason is that the original USDA data do not include every country, although they do include the world's major animal producing countries. Furthermore, the USDA figures are based on cattle who are officially counted (eg at farms and slaughterhouses); cattle slaughtered outside official premises may not be counted. For example, non-walking cattle (ie "non-ambulatory" cattle, too injured to walk) may be killed before they get to the slaughterhouse and not counted. In the US alone, non-walking cattle totalled 465,000 in 2003, including 185,000 calves, and 450,000 in 2004, including 180,000 calves ('calves' in this case are cattle under 230 kg / 500 lbs). Livestock are impossible to count accurately. Therefore the figures in this table are rounded to the nearest million to avoid spurious accuracy and totals do not necessarily add up exactly. How reliable are USDA statistics? Much the same number of cattle and the same top ten countries are found in another USDA table (Table 7-5. Cattle and buffalo: Number in specified countries, 2002�2005, Agricultural Statistics, United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2007; web site accessed February 2008.), but the number of cattle is slightly less, totalling around a billion cattle kept annually worldwide. Thus USDA statistics may be acceptably reliable given that the actual number of cattle worldwide cannot be counted accurately. Notes for Table 2 The figures in Table 2 are based on Live Cattle Selected Countries Summary. Production (Calf Crop). In Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade. United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Global Analysis. Circular Series DL&P 2-07 November 2007. www.fas.usda.gov (web site accessed February 2008). The notes for Table 1 also apply to this table. Cattle numbers in this table are only the 'Production Crop' (see Notes for Table 1). |