Cattle farmers in Iowa and in the United States are working to rebuild the national cattle herd, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) annual cattle report issued last week said.

All cattle and calves in the United States as of Jan. 1, 2015 totaled 89.8 million head, 1 percent above the 88.5 million on Jan. 1, 2014, the USDA report said.

Analysts responding to a Wall Street Journal survey expected the inventory to be 99.9 percent of year-ago levels, according to Farm Futures.

There were 3.9 million cattle and calves in Iowa as of Jan. 1, the USDA report said. This was up 3 percent from Jan. 1, 2014.

All cows and...