HOLY COW: StatsCan says Alberta has more cattle than people

That’s a lot of hamburgers.

According to StatsCan, Canada had about 11.2 million cattle and calves as of Jan. 1, 2023, down about 2.2% from last year. Among the provinces, Alberta held the largest cattle inventories contributing 42.7% to the national total, followed by Saskatchewan (19.3%) and Ontario (14%).

Canadian cattle inventories have been on a general decline since January 2005 and country-wide export bans due to Mad Cow Disease. However, they have remained relatively flat since January 2016, StatsCan noted. Government officials including Agriculture and Irrigation minister Nate Horner have noted the ‘mother cow herd’ is the lowest in Canada and the US since 1962.

Beef is Alberta’s largest agricultural-food export, worth about $3.5 billion in 2021.

And it’s not just cattle, pork took a hit as well. This was the second consecutive cycle with a year-over-year decrease in Canadian hog inventories, StatsCan said in a related note, despite the fact the number of pigs in the country continues to rise. Canadian producers had 13.9 million hogs on their farms on January 1, 2023, down 1.7% from the same date in 2022. Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba continued to hold over 80% of Canada's porkers, with Quebec accounting for nearly one-third of Canadian hog inventories, at 4.4 million head.

Hog producers reported 1.2 million sows and gilts (-0.7%), and the number of boars decreased by 5.3% year-over-year to 16,000 head. The July-to-December 2022 total disposition of hogs declined 2.5% from the same period in 2021, StatsCan reported. Total hog slaughter was down 1.4% to 10.7 million head, and international exports of live hogs decreased 7.1% to 3.2 million  during the same period, it added. 

In the mutton category, Canadian sheep inventories have continued to grow on a year-over-year basis since January 2021, it added, but are barely a fraction of the popularity of beef at around 850,000 lambs country wide. In a shout out to climate change, StatsCan said drought conditions and tight feed supply continued to put pressure on the livestock sector.

For the July-to-December 2022 period, international exports of live sheep and lambs decreased 40.5% year over year to 13,200 head. Meanwhile, international imports of live animals remained elevated relative to historical levels, at 5,000 head, StatsCan said. 

Meanwhile, the provincial government continues to struggle with point of origin labelling laws that would seek to disclose the fat content of breakfast sausage, for example. It’s presently conducting a ‘competitiveness study’ to determine, among other things, how to best market Alberta’s surplus of bovine entrails and related byproducts. 

Such materials include the skulls, brains and spinal cords of cattle slaughtered in Canada under federal rules to prevent tissues that may contain BSE from entering the human food chain. China imposed a ban on Canadian beef imports following a case of atypical BSE in a central Alberta cow after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported it in late 2021.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told a recent agri-food producer conference her government is ready to help.

“That doesn’t mean the road ahead will be smooth, there is (are) plenty of competition from other countries, and there is no shortage of critics eager to attack and shame those who produce beef and those who eat it.”