As of January 2025, there were ~86.7 million cattle in inventory.[1] In January 2024, there were ~87.2 million.[1]
These figures include cattle raised for beef and cattle raised for milk production.
USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Cattle, ISSN: 1948-9099, p. 4. [2025 = 86,662,200 cattle; 2024 = 87,157,400 cattle; 2023 = 88,841,000 cattle]
Tom Doran (April 7, 2025) Cattle inventory continues to decline. Agrinews. https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/livestock/2025/03/24/cattle-inventory-continues-to-decline/
Broadly estimated, about 57 million cattle were grazing as of January 2025.[1]
See chart in following question for details.
About 66% of all cattle (~57 million) were grazing, and roughly 34% (~30 million) were confined as of January 2025.[1] Confined cattle include beef cattle on feedlots and most dairy cows.
These categories for grazing and pastured animals are not clear-cut, so all the figures are estimates. For example, a small percentage of dairy cows – mostly on smaller farms – are primarily raised on pasture.[2] And some weaned calves in the beef industry, even though not reaching an age or size to go to feedlots, are still confined in “backgrounder” operations for several months prior to transfer to feedlots.[3-7]
USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Cattle, ISSN: 1948-9099, p. 4. [cattle on feed = 14,296,700; milk cows and heifers for milk cow replacement = 13,263,600]
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2016) Dairy 2014: Dairy Cattle Management Practices in the United States, 2014, Report 1, p. 149, 159 & 163.
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2017) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, p. 2. [For definition of backgrounder and stocker operations]
Nehring, R., et al., (2024). The Economics and Productivity of US Cow-Calf Production. Journal of Applied Farm Economics, 7(1), 3, p. 2. [“Around 30% of cow-calf operations also background their calves.”]
Karen Burlew et al., (2025) Segments of the Beef Cattle Industry, Louisiana State University Ag Center, p. 2. [Even in backgrounder operations, grazing is a primary form of feed: “Stockers, or backgrounders, purchase weaned calves from cow-calf operations and continue to support their growth. They primarily graze these cattle for several months with the purpose of continuing their growth without an extensive expense. Some stockers offer a mixed ration, where calves may have the
opportunity to become accustomed to eating from a feed bunk. However, the primary sources of their diet are grazed or stored forages.”]Drouillard, J. S. (2018). Current situation and future trends for beef production in the United States of America—A review. Asian-Australasian journal of animal sciences, 31(7), 1007. [“The largest share of the calf population, usually 60% or more, is first placed into a backgrounding or stocker operation… Stocker (grazing) and backgrounding (drylot) systems rely heavily on forages as the predominant component of the diet, supplementing protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals as needed to optimize cattle performance.”]
USDA APHIS (2017) Beef 2017: Beef Cow-calf Management Practices in the United States, 2017, Report 1, p. 168. [Of the cattle and calves leaving grazing lands, ~24% go directly to feedlots, while ~59% go to auction houses, where they are then directed either to feedlots, backgrounders, or stockers. Unlike the pig and chicken industries, cattle move in many different directions at various ages, originating from about 500,000 operations around the country. It is difficult to generalize or to find precise figures about their average age, size, and destinations.]
As a broad estimate, ~5% of dairy cows are primarily kept on pasture. Conversely, ~95% of dairy cows are mostly confined.[1,2]
Broadly estimated, about .7 million of the total dairy inventory of 13.3 million were mostly kept on pasture.[3,4]
Smid, A.-M. C., et al., (2020). The Influence of Different Types of Outdoor Access on Dairy Cattle Behavior. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7, 257–257, p. 2.[“Pasture-based dairy farming was once the norm in the United States, but data from 2013 show that pasture is used as the primary system for fewer than 3% of lactating cows and for 5.0% of dry cows.” These calculations are based on footnote 2 below.]
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2016) Dairy 2014: Dairy Cattle Management Practices in the United States, 2014, Report 1 [The calculations by Smid et al. (as noted above) are based on this USDA report: Tables E.1a and E1.f and D.1.b on pages 163, 159, and 149. When we apply the USDA’s same percentages for farm size and “primary housing type: pasture” to 2022 inventory data (2022 Census, table 17), they are comparable to calculations by Smid, at approximately 3% for lactating cows, 5% for dry cows, and 3% for weaned heifers. Assuming that producers of similar farm sizes have similar shares of cows pastured, these overall percentages would still be reasonable estimates.]
USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Cattle, ISSN: 1948-9099, p. 4. [These include by class: milk cows and heifers for milk cow replacement = 13,263,600]
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2016) Dairy 2014: Dairy Cattle Management Practices in the United States, 2014, Report 1 [Note that all the figures above refer only to cows for whom pasture is their “primary housing type.” A larger percentage of dairy cows have some access to pasture. “Overall, 19.9 percent of lactating cows and 34.0 percent of dry cows had some pasture access.” p. ix. To reflect this, we use 10% as the number of dairy cows “on pasture” in the total number grazing above.]
It is likely that somewhere in the range of 2-3 million sheep are grazing.
About 5 million sheep were in inventory as of January 2025.[1] The USDA does not estimate figures for the number on feedlots, though they are common. Most meat from sheep is sold as lamb and comes from animals under 14 months old. “Feeder lambs are raised on forage until they are around 60-80 pounds, and then placed in feedlots to be fattened and finished for slaughter.”[2] In 2022, more than 40% of total sheep were on operations with more than 1,000 head.[3]
About 2.5 million goats were in inventory as of January 2025.[4] The average herd size for goats was about 20 in 2019, with more than 130,000 operations keeping goats.[5] Presumably, a large percentage were at least partially grazing.
USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Sheep and Goats, ISSN: 1949-1611, p. 4. [Breeding sheep were about 73% of total inventory (3,680,000 / 5,050,000 total inventory)]
U.S. Economic Research Service (8/21/25) Sheep, Lamb & Mutton – Sector at a Glance. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/sheep-lamb-mutton/sector-at-a-glance
USDA (2024) 2022 Census of Agriculture, United States, Vol 1, Part 51, Table 27, p. 21. [2,133,612 / 5,104,328 = 41.8%]
USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Sheep and Goats, p. 13. [all goats and kids = 2,507,000]
USDA (2020) How is the U.S. Goat Industry Growing? NAHMS Goat Study 2019. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/goats/downloads/goat19/goat2019-infographic-overview.pdf