The latest beef mortality figures show young bull supplies are on par with this time last year despite a decline in supply from all other cattle types.
Young bulls make up a small percentage of the total beef killed. Of the 675,000 cattle slaughtered so far this year, just under 51,000, or 7.5%, were young bulls.
The numbers of young bulls being slaughtered have declined over the past decade, but have shown some signs of stabilization recently.
The market preference for beef (bull) as well as the specialized nature of bull-for-beef finishes are some of the reasons why bull beef kill numbers It has declined over the past decade.
The table below shows the weekly beef kill numbers for the week ending Sunday, May 31, versus the same week last year, and the cumulative beef kill numbers so far this year versus the same week last year, as well as the change in numbers and percentage changes:
| Type of animal | weekend May 31, 2026 |
Same week For the year 2025 |
It changes | Cumulative 2026 | Cumulative 2025 | Cumulative change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young Bulls | 2,530 | 2,395 | +135 (+5.6%) | 50,950 | 50,773 | +177 (+0.3%) |
| Bulls | 625 | 413 | +212 (+51.3%) | 10,184 | 10,481 | -297 (-2.8%) |
| Calves | 11,433 | 11,438 | -5 (-0.0%) | 255,171 | 277,905 | -22,734 (-8.2%) |
| Cows | 6,736 | 6,470 | +266 (+4.1%) | 142,188 | 169,287 | -27,099 (-16.0%) |
| Calves | 8,917 | 8,429 | +488 (+5.8%) | 216,847 | 243,972 | -27,125 (-11.1%) |
| the total | 30,241 | 29,145 | +1,096 (+3.8%) | 675,340 | 752,418 | -77,078 (-10.2%) |
As the table above indicates, the number of beef last week increased by about 1,100 head, or 3.8%, over last year.
This represents the fourth week in a row in which supplies exceed the corresponding week of last year.
The chart below shows how weekly beef mortality numbers have been trending compared to last year:
While supplies have risen week-on-week in the past four weeks compared to 2025, total deaths so far this year are still more than 77,000 head or 10.2% lower than this time last year.
This gap is expected to narrow as the year progresses, as weekly supplies are expected to remain steady this year compared to last year when weekly death numbers declined as the year progressed.
