Dairy farmers, perhaps waiting to take advantage of a new tax year, sent 10,000 more cows to slaughter in January this year than in December 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture reported this afternoon.
On a year-over-year basis, dairy farmers culled 9,900 cows fewer in January 2016 than they did in January 2015. That’s a 3.6% decrease.What’s more amazing is that January 2016 had one less business day than December 2015, so on a daily basis, cow culling was actually up 9%.
The raw culling numbers: January 2016—265,500; December 2015—255,400; January 2015—275,400.