Source: USDA, 12/20/16

In January the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) will survey about 490 cattle operations in North Carolina to provide an up-to-date measure of cattle inventories. The surveys were mailed today in advance of data collection, which takes place Jan. 1-12, 2017.

“This information will help the more than 19,000 North Carolina farms that raise cattle make informed business decisions,” said Dee Webb, NC Field Office, state statistician of the NASS Eastern Mountain Region. “Producers are facing weaker prices and need to have accurate information about the inventory to make herd and marketing decisions.

Last year NC cattle inventory stayed the same at 800,000 head for 2015 and 2014
along with cow inventory remaining the same at 410,000 head. Knowing this of
information is valuable for the cattle industry.”

During the first two weeks of January, North Carolina producers will have the
opportunity to report their beef and dairy cattle inventories, calf crop, death loss, and cattle on feed information. To make it as easy as possible for producers to participate in the survey, NASS offers the option of responding via the Internet, telephone, mail or a personal interview with a local NASS representative.

NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only state- and nationallevel data in aggregate, ensuring that no individual producer or operation can be identified.

The January Cattle report will be released Jan. 31, 2017. This and all North Carolina NASS reports are available online at
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/North_Carolina/.

For more information, call the NASS North Carolina Field Office at (800) 437-8451.