The herd held about 800,000 animals between the 1950s and 1990s but then underwent a steep decline; the population has dropped by 11 per cent since 2020 and by more than 98 per cent since 2001.

The Canadian cattle herd fell 1.4 per cent from last year on July 1, to 11.9 million head, with beef cattle taking an even harder hit, dropping 2.2 per cent. It's the third year in a row the ...