CALGARY – Livestock populations in Canada are increasing.
Statistics Canada figures released March 3 report growth in the three main classes of cattle, hogs and sheep.
Cattle inventory as of Jan.1 pegged the national herd at 12.726 million. This includes beef and dairy bulls, cows, heifers, steers and calves under one year of age.
In the West, beef is king, according to the statistics.
Alberta leads with 4.8 million head and 1.7 million of those are cows. On the dairy side, Alberta has the largest western dairy herd of 98,000 milk cows.
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In total, there are 4.1 million beef cows and 276,000 dairy cows in the four western provinces.
The western breakdown is as follows: 1.1 million cattle in Manitoba, 2.2 million in Saskatchewan and 695,000 million in British Columbia. The majority are beef animals.
The numbers reverse in Eastern Canada where there are 691,000 beef cows, mostly in Ontario, and 998,000 dairy cows. There is almost an even split between Ontario and Quebec dairy farms with 419,000 cows in Ontario and 507,000 cows in Quebec.
A January report from the Canadian Meat Council said small gains were made in the national cattle slaughter for 1994. Federally inspected cattle slaughter was 2.5 million head for a weekly kill of 47,408 head. Alberta killed 1.5 million, or 59 percent of the national total.
Live slaughter exports to the United States reached 690,000, down four percent from the previous year. Beef exports increased by 12 percent, selling 177,739 tonnes of meat, mostly to the U.S.
Hog stocks are also increasing.
Despite a sharp decline in prices, the hog industry continued to expand at a modest rate.
As of Jan. 1 there were 11 million hogs on farms in Canada. This includes breeding stock and all other classes of hogs. The western provinces hold 4.48 million head and the east has 6.5 million.
Top hog producers
Production figures across the country show Ontario and Quebec have about 3.09 million each, Alberta has 1.8 million hogs and Manitoba has 1.5 million. Sask-atchewan reported 913,000 head as of Jan. 1 and B.C. has 198,000 hogs.
The meat council said pork exports were up nine percent for a total of 256,174 tonnes. The U.S. was the primary importer of Canadian pork taking 164,838 tonnes. Japan bought 31,960 with the remainder being sold to Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Cuba, New Zealand and Hungary.
The sheep industry is also enjoying growth. As of Jan. 1 there were 720,000 rams, ewes and lambs in Canada. At the same time last year, there were 679,000.
Most lamb production is based in Alberta and Ontario. Alberta reported 245,000 head and Ontario has 201,000.
About 10,000 tonnes of lamb and mutton went on the market in 1994, said the meat council.
