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On January 1, 2005, there were 2.07 million head of cattle and calves (including 435,000 head of dairy cows) in Idaho valued at approximately $2.24 billion. Idaho now ranks 15^th among all states, amounting to about 2 percent of the U.S. total.  However, Idaho is a bigger player than might appear, especially in the areas of cattle on feed, fed cattle and commercial slaughter.  In fact, in 2004, Idaho ranked 8^th in fed cattle, with 640,000 head marketed.  Idaho processors, led by the Tyson plant in Boise, processed 580,000 head in 2004, ranking Idaho 10^th in beef processing.    

 Cattle and calves ranked second, only to milk, in 2004 for all Idaho agricultural commodities in terms of cash receipts. The total cash receipts for cattle and calves was $1.06 billion in 2004, down 1 percent over 2003. This continued strong performance demonstrates the cattle industry’s continued impact on Idaho’s economy. In fact, in 20 of the last 25 years, cash receipts for cattle and calves has been the top agricultural commodity in the state. Cattle producers continue to meet the challenges of a changing industry to provide lean, high quality, nutritious and safe beef products to consumers.    

 Cattle are raised in every Idaho county, with the largest production in the southern part of the state. Gooding County boasts the most total cattle and calves with 198,000 head. Cassia County is close behind with 192,000 followed by Twin Falls County with 167,000. Owyhee County is the top county for beef cows that have calved at 38,500 followed by Cassia County at 30,500 and Lemhi County with 28,000.

 The cattle feeding industry in Idaho is made up of about 150 feedlots of which about 100 have one-time feeding capacities of fewer than 1,000 head.  At the other end of the spectrum, 27 lots have a one-time capacity of over 4,000 head.  About 57 percent of Idaho cattle operations have 50 head or less and only about 8 percent of operations have over 500 head.  However, that 8 percent accounts for about 68 percent of the total cattle inventory in the state compared to the national average of the largest operations accounting for about 42 percent of the total inventory.

 Small independently owned operations are still the backbone of the Idaho livestock industry.  Despite the large holdings of corporate operations headquartered in Idaho such as Simplot and

Agri-Beef, the majority of Idaho cattle are raised and fed on privately owned ranches and feedlots.  For the most part, beef cows are raised on open pasture.  Calves are born in the late fall or early spring.  With more than two thirds of the state owned by federal and state government, most cows and calves spend at least part of their lives on public rangelands.  Idaho feedlots depend on crop by-products, especially waste from potato processing plants, to efficiently finish high quality cattle for domestic and international markets.

Statistics used in this summary are primarily from “2005 Idaho Agricultural Statistics” compiled by the Idaho Agricultural Statistics Service at the Idaho Department of Agriculture. Compiled 1/06.