As of Jan. 1, farm inventories of cattle reached their lowest level in 15 years, while inventories of hogs were at a 12-year low, Statistics Canada reported Feb 16.
Canadian cattle producers reported 13 million head as of Jan. 1, down 1.3 percent from January 2009.
Cattle and calf inventories are up 5.7 percent in Saskatchewan and up 2.2 percent in Ontario. Cattle numbers fell in other provinces: British Columbia (-5.4 percent), Alberta (-4.3 percent), Manitoba (-3.9 percent), Quebec (-2.2 percent) and Atlantic provinces (-4.9 percent).
Cattle and calf slaughter levels were down 3.7 percent from the previous year.
Canadian exports of live cattle and calves in 2009 fell 31.6 percent from 2008.
Hog producers had an estimated 11.6 million hogs on their farms, down 4.5 percent.
Since January 2009 there has been a 4.3 percent decrease in the breeding herd, mainly sows and gilts. The inventory of sows is estimated at 1.3 million head.
During 2009, total hog exports amounted to 6.4 million head, down 31.9 percent from 2008.
Slaughter levels in Canada have been increasing since 2007, but are still below the peak of 22.9 million head reached in 2004. In 2009, slaughter reached 21.8 million head.
The number of sheep also declined. Inventory fell 0.2 percent to 806,600 head.
In 2003, the export market for sheep collapsed, and has remained virtually non-existent since then.
The slaughter of sheep in Canada remained unchanged from levels a year ago.
