Interstate Livestock Movements: Data Description

Interstate Livestock Movements Total Inshipments Regional Flows State-to-State Flows Data Description Questions and Answers

State-to-state livestock movements are approximated by compiling data from State certificates of veterinary inspection for animals destined for feeding or breeding purposes and exclude animals for immediate slaughter. Blanks in the table below indicate no available tabulations of shipment data by State of origin/destination. Both the sending and receiving States generally have certificates/documentation on file, but they do not necessarily tabulate the data.

Since source-destination data are not available from all States, shipping patterns generated from these data underestimate actual flows, and hence only provide a general sense of livestock movements. For example, because tabulated data are not available from Nebraska, cattle flows into the State are represented by outshipment data reported by other States. Coverage is incomplete for Nebraska because data were available from only 17 States.

State totals do not equal 2001 total inshipments reported by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service because tabulations of certificate data were not available from all States and not all tabulations were 2001 data (as indicated in the table below). Flows for States where tabulations were not available were generated using data from a combination of years.