More cattle were brought by Portuguese traders in 1553. In 1900 the vast majority of beef cattle in the United States of America were Shorthorn, Hereford or Angus.
Most of the beef eaten in the United States comes from domestic production, About 9 percent of the beef supply in the United States comes from imports. About 4 percent of domestic beef production is exported to the world market.
Cattle farms operate in an industry characterized by large numbers of small farms. Nearly 765,000 farms, about 35 percent of the 2.2 million farms in the United States had a beef cow inventory in 2007.
The cattle feeding industry has shifted in recent years from its formerly heavy concentration in the corn-belt and Southern Plains states. Most of the high capacity commercial feedlots are found in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Commercial cattle feedlots are those with a capacity of 1,000 cattle or more.
There is a trend toward custom feeding cattle in large feedlots with cow-calf operators retaining ownership of the cattle.
Cattle production in United States
