Dairy Heifer Inventories To Shrink Until 2027 Rebound

The U.S. dairy industry is facing a potential shortage of its most important resource — milk cows.

The number of replacement heifers available to enter the dairy herd as milk producing cows has already fallen to a 20-year low. Based on new CoBank research, replacements could fall even further over the next two years before a recovery begins in 2027.