U.S. beef cattle and calf losses in feeder cattle production are estimated for 1975 from a USDA survey to indicate historical trends in cattle and calf losses. Major loss categories were disease, predators, theft, inclement weather, and unidentified causes. Of those feeder calves lost to production, 85 percent of the losses occurred before birth and 15 percent between birth and weaning based on January 1 inventories. Since 1950, annual average cattle losses have been 1.7 percent in comparison with calf losses of 6.4 percent.