Despite high beef prices, a smaller dairy herd and unprecedented high prices for dairy cow replacements have now impacted cull cow slaughter rates for over a full year.
Based on latest USDA monthly data released Sept. 25, the number of dairy cull cows marketed through U.S. slaughter plants in August 2025 was estimated at 217,400. While down 8,400 from July, it was 13,300 less than August 2024.
August 2024 had 27 non-holiday weekdays and Saturdays, while August 2025 had 26 days. Slaughter averaged 8,400 head per business day this year, the same as a year earlier.
Weekly slaughter in 2025 continues to follow long-term trends. Through the week ending Sept. 13, weekly dairy cow slaughter has trailed year-earlier levels in 30 of 37 weeks. Since September 2023 and through the week ending Sept. 13, weekly dairy cow slaughter has now trailed year-earlier levels for 98 of 106 weeks, with a total decline of nearly 556,100 head over that period.
The USDA estimated there were 9.52 million dairy cows in U.S. herds in August 2025, up 35,000 head from the July estimate and putting the August culling rate at about 2.3% of the herd. Based on the monthly data, year-to-date (January-August) dairy cull cow slaughter now stands at about 1,718,600 head, down 126,200 from the same period a year ago and the lowest eight-month total to start the year since 2008.
Read: August milk production higher as cow numbers increase
Heaviest dairy cow culling during August occurred in the Upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) at 60,100 head. That was followed in the Southwest (Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada) at 38,500 head.
Other monthly regional totals were estimated at 33,300 head in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; 30,800 head in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia; and 27,300 head in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Primary data for the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter report is obtained from reports from about 900 federally inspected plants and nearly 1,850 state-inspected or custom-exempt slaughter plants.
Read also: Dairy replacement cow prices hit new unprecedented high, according to latest quarterly estimates from the USDA.
With a month lag in reporting data, the USDA’s Ag Prices report indicated U.S. average prices received for cull cows (beef and dairy, combined) in July 2025 averaged $157 per hundredweight (cwt), up $36 from December and up $15 per cwt from July 2024. It is also up $15 from peaks in July and August last year, setting a new all-time high for cull cow prices.
