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 the latest USDA monthly Livestock Slaughter data released on Dec. 23, the number of dairy cull cows marketed through U.S. slaughter plants in November 2025 was estimated at 204,100. While down 38,900 from November, it was also 6,200 less than November 2024.
November 2024 had 26 non-holiday weekdays and Saturdays, while November 2025 had 25 days. Slaughter averaged 8,200 head per business day this year, up 100 head from a year earlier.
Weekly slaughter toward the end of 2025 has reversed a long-term trend. Through the week ending Dec. 20, weekly dairy cow slaughter has exceeded year-earlier levels in the past 15 weeks. Since September 2023 and through the week ending Sept. 6, weekly dairy cow slaughter had trailed year-earlier levels for 98 of 105 weeks with a total decline of nearly 556,100 head over that period. However, in the 15 weeks since, it has increased 24,037 head.
The USDA estimated there were 9.57 million dairy cows in U.S. herds in November 2025, unchanged from the September estimate and putting the November culling rate at about 2.1% of the herd. Based on the monthly data, year-to-date (January – November) dairy cull cow slaughter now stands at about 2,392,900 head, down 108,200 from the same period a year ago and the lowest 11-month total since 2008.
The U.S. average prices received for cull cows (beef and dairy, combined) in November 2025 averaged $159 per hundredweight (cwt), down $35 per cwt from November 2024.
Read: Cow, milk increases evident in USDA November estimates
Heaviest dairy cow culling during November occurred in the Upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin), at 54,700 head. That was followed in the Southwest (Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada), at 42,000 head.
Other monthly regional totals were estimated at 28,900 head in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas; 27,200 head in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia; and 25,000 head in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Primary data for the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter report is obtained from reports from about 1,100 federally inspected plants and nearly 1,825 state-inspected or custom-exempt slaughter plants.
Read also: Dairy replacement cow prices set new records in late 2025
