According to AgWeb.com, dairy culling remains strong in the United States dairy herd. Are you culling many of your cows? Does this ring true in your area?

U.S. dairy farmers sent 228,000 dairy cows to slaughter through Federally-inspected plants in July, USDA reports this morning. That’s 19,000 more than July of 2008 but 28,000 head less than June of this year.

The wild swings in numbers, a 9% increase over last July but an 11% decrease from June, is likely due the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program. The 7th round of CWT took 105,000 head earlier this summer, but when they actually moved to slaughter depended on when auditors could verify individual herds.

Year-to-date, dairy cow slaughter is running 205,000 head above last year, a 14% increase.