Livestock Industry at Record Lows

Statistics Canada has recently released a report on Canada's Livestock Industry.  The report indicates that in the past 12 - 15 years, Canada's livestock numbers are currently at the lowest.

From January 2009 the cattle numbers have dropped by 1.3%, the hog numbers have dropped by 4.5% and sheep numbers have dropped by 0.2%.  

In Alberta the cattle numbers have dropped by 4.3%, the hog numbers have dropped by 5.3% and the sheep numbers have stayed the same.

Currently there are only 99,265 farms in Canada that are producing either beef or dairy cattle.  The cattle producer numbers have never dropped below 100,000.  

Farming has always been a challenging industry to be in, however the past several years have been especially hard on the livestock industry.  Year after year of losses has forced many farmers and ranchers to make the tough decision of selling off and getting out of the livestock industry.  

Information from www.statcan.gc.ca.