Just How Many Cows Are Actually In Montana?

"More Cows Than People"

I'm sure you've heard that saying when it comes to the population totals in Montana.

Guess what they're right, and it's not by a little but by a lot, but just how many cows are there in Montana?

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"All Hat And No Cattle"

Driving around in states like Texas, South Dakota, and Montana, it's impossible to not see cattle.

Growing up in South Dakota as the grandson of a cattle rancher, I always knew how important ranching was, not just to our family but to America at large.

What shocked me when looking at the statistics provided by the United States Department of Agriculture was how few dairy cows were in Montana.

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"Don’t have a cow, man"

According to reports from earlier this year provided by the USDA, here is the breakdown of cattle in Montana:

• Cattle, Cows, Beef - Inventory ( First of Jan. 2024 ) 1,251,000
• Cattle, Cows, Milk - Inventory ( First of Jan. 2024 )    9,000
• Cattle, Incl Calves - Inventory ( First of Jan. 2024 ) 2,120,000
• Cattle, On Feed - Inventory ( First of Jan. 2024 ) 38,000

That's well over 3 million cattle, or 3 times the amount of humans living in Montana, who at last count totaled 1.1 million.

As I mentioned, I was shocked at the low number of dairy cows, because in South Dakota I saw them everywhere, and their numbers from the USDA shows there are 208,000 in the state.

Talking about this with Tammie Toren, she believes that it might only be the Hutterites that are raising dairy cows in Montana.

If you know the reason behind why we see such a low number of dairy cows in Montana, I'd love to hear about it, so email me here, or message me on our app.