diff --git a/k8s/helm-charts/seldon-core-v2-crds/templates/seldon-v2-crds.yaml b/k8s/helm-charts/seldon-core-v2-crds/templates/seldon-v2-crds.yaml
index b60c224544..f648ae3c32 100644
--- a/k8s/helm-charts/seldon-core-v2-crds/templates/seldon-v2-crds.yaml
+++ b/k8s/helm-charts/seldon-core-v2-crds/templates/seldon-v2-crds.yaml
@@ -170,9 +170,13 @@ spec:
       jsonPath: .status.conditions[?(@.type=="ModelReady")].status
       name: Ready
       type: string
-    - description: Number of replicas
-      jsonPath: .status.replicas
-      name: Replicas
+    - description: Number of desired replicas
+      jsonPath: .spec.replicas
+      name: Desired Replicas
+      type: integer
+    - description: Number of replicas available to receive inference requests
+      jsonPath: .status.availableReplicas
+      name: Available Replicas
       type: integer
     - jsonPath: .metadata.creationTimestamp
       name: Age
diff --git a/k8s/yaml/crds.yaml b/k8s/yaml/crds.yaml
index bdf807c1f3..d9da3271b2 100644
--- a/k8s/yaml/crds.yaml
+++ b/k8s/yaml/crds.yaml
@@ -173,9 +173,13 @@ spec:
       jsonPath: .status.conditions[?(@.type=="ModelReady")].status
       name: Ready
       type: string
-    - description: Number of replicas
-      jsonPath: .status.replicas
-      name: Replicas
+    - description: Number of desired replicas
+      jsonPath: .spec.replicas
+      name: Desired Replicas
+      type: integer
+    - description: Number of replicas available to receive inference requests
+      jsonPath: .status.availableReplicas
+      name: Available Replicas
       type: integer
     - jsonPath: .metadata.creationTimestamp
       name: Age
diff --git a/operator/apis/mlops/v1alpha1/model_types.go b/operator/apis/mlops/v1alpha1/model_types.go
index 0adc8ff8e5..8a576ca7ef 100644
--- a/operator/apis/mlops/v1alpha1/model_types.go
+++ b/operator/apis/mlops/v1alpha1/model_types.go
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ type ModelStatus struct {
 //+kubebuilder:resource:shortName=mlm
 //+kubebuilder:subresource:scale:specpath=.spec.replicas,statuspath=.status.replicas
 //+kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Ready",type=string,JSONPath=`.status.conditions[?(@.type=="ModelReady")].status`,description="Model ready status"
-//+kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Replicas",type=integer,JSONPath=`.status.replicas`, description="Number of replicas"
+//+kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Desired Replicas",type=integer,JSONPath=`.spec.replicas`,description="Number of desired replicas"
+//+kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Available Replicas",type=integer,JSONPath=`.status.availableReplicas`,description="Number of replicas available to receive inference requests"
 //+kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="Age",type=date,JSONPath=`.metadata.creationTimestamp`
 
 // Model is the Schema for the models API
diff --git a/operator/config/crd/bases/mlops.seldon.io_models.yaml b/operator/config/crd/bases/mlops.seldon.io_models.yaml
index 553ba7cde3..a6d5d47173 100644
--- a/operator/config/crd/bases/mlops.seldon.io_models.yaml
+++ b/operator/config/crd/bases/mlops.seldon.io_models.yaml
@@ -22,9 +22,13 @@ spec:
       jsonPath: .status.conditions[?(@.type=="ModelReady")].status
       name: Ready
       type: string
-    - description: Number of replicas
-      jsonPath: .status.replicas
-      name: Replicas
+    - description: Number of desired replicas
+      jsonPath: .spec.replicas
+      name: Desired Replicas
+      type: integer
+    - description: Number of replicas available to receive inference requests
+      jsonPath: .status.availableReplicas
+      name: Available Replicas
       type: integer
     - jsonPath: .metadata.creationTimestamp
       name: Age
diff --git a/operator/scheduler/model.go b/operator/scheduler/model.go
index 8c4a9c7c73..ec366258be 100644
--- a/operator/scheduler/model.go
+++ b/operator/scheduler/model.go
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ func (s *SchedulerClient) SubscribeModelEvents(ctx context.Context, grpcClient s
 			}
 
 			// Set the total number of replicas targeted by this model
+			// The .status.replicas CRD field is used by HPA to determine the current
+			// number replicas that exist, irrespective of their state
 			latestModel.Status.Replicas = int32(
 				modelStatus.GetAvailableReplicas() +
 					modelStatus.GetUnavailableReplicas(),