Which stories caught the most attention in 2025? From New World screwworm (NWS) to cattle inventory levels and hay alternatives to weaning strategies, here’s a look back at the top 10 stories on Drovers.com in 2025.
10. U.S. Beef Cattle Inventory Falls to the Lowest Level in 64 Years
USDA’s annual Cattle Inventory Report released on January 31, 2025, shows the U.S. total cattle inventory shrunk another 1% over the past year, with the number of beef cows also down 1%.
Shrinking cattle supplies continues to be the story in the cattle market and part of the reason cattle prices continue to climb. USDA’s annual Cattle Inventory Report shows the U.S. cattle inventory shrunk another 1% over the past year, now at 86.7 million head. And when you look at just the number of beef cows, that inventory fell 1%, now sitting at 27.9 million head. Read the full story.
9. Instead of Making Hay: 4 Profitable Alternatives For Cattle Producers to Consider
Carson Roberts, Missouri Extension state forage specialist, says the consensus in the beef industry is making your own hay is the cheapest way to feed cattle through the winter. Roberts disagrees saying hay is expensive to make and expensive to feed.
If you didn’t make hay, what could you do instead? He recommends four alternatives that often pay more per acre than producing hay. Read the full story.
8. The Smell You’ll Never Forget: A Calf Infested With New World Screwworm
“The stench … it’s like roadkill stewed in infection,” explains Jose Santiago Gallardo Espinosa, a cattle producer from Chiriqui, Panama, describing an animal that has been infected with NWS. “You’ll smell it before you see it.”
He goes on to describe the appearance: “That little dehorning scrape you didn’t worry about? Now, it’s a fist-sized hole pulsating with maggots. Not on top, under the skin. Hundreds of cream-colored worms with screw-like spines, eating your cow alive.”
The image, the smell, the emotions: five cattle producers and veterinarians from around the world share their firsthand experience with NWS. Read the full story.
7. When Is the Best Time to Wean?
Weaning strategies are not one plan fits all, and what your neighbor does might not be the best decision for your herd. The average suggested weaning age is 205 days.
Four beef cattle specialists share strategies to help producers decide when to wean calves. Read the full story.
6. Instead of Feeding Hay: 5 Profitable Winter Feed Alternatives for Your Cattle Herd
Traditional hay production is often economically inefficient. Cheap winter-feeding strategies can dramatically reduce costs compared to making and feeding hay.
Roberts says he often hears people say, “Reducing hay sounds great, but you can’t starve weight onto a cow.”
He doesn’t disagree but asks: “Why would you insist on feeding hay when stockpiled milo or tall fescue is often as good or better in forage quality than the average bale of fescue? Furthermore, these stockpiled forages can be produced for a fraction of the price.”
He suggests five strategies that can potentially reduce winter feeding costs by more than half. Read the full story.
5. Did the Administration’s Plan to Lower Beef Prices Wreck the Bull Run in the Cattle Market?
2025 was a historic year in the cattle market. The tightest cattle numbers in 70 years laid the groundwork for cash and futures prices to push to record and all-time highs.
The peak in the cattle futures market was hit on Oct. 16. However, by Nov. 6, live cattle saw a $30 correction from the highs, and feeder cattle futures set back nearly $70. The cattle market chaos wasn’t tied to fundamentals but liquidation by speculative traders on fear of policy changes by the administration as President Donald Trump announced a plan to lower beef prices for consumers.
Cattle market fundamentals remain unchanged while psychology shifted the market due to the president’s comments and industry interference. Read the full story.
4. What is a Good Bull Worth in 2025?
The age-old question asked by producers during sale season is: What is a good bull worth? The question has been asked forever, or at least as long as we have been breeding cattle with a notion of trying to make the next generation better.
It is an important question with an answer that depends on your marketing plan and the market conditions at that time. Not an exact number because there are many variables in play. Read the full story.
3. Buckle Up: Here’s Why Cattle Prices Are Setting up for Another Wild Ride in 2025
USDA’s January 2025 Cattle Inventory report shows U.S. beef cattle numbers fell to the lowest level in 64 years to start the year. Tight supplies and strong demand could push cattle prices to even higher highs in 2025, but uncertainty is infusing more risk and volatility into the markets.
Those numbers, along with questions around just how much higher these markets can go, were major topics surrounding the 2025 CattleCon in San Antonio, Texas. Three ag economists share their predictions for 2025. Read the full story.
2. 10 Reasons You Should Quit Making Hay
This was the first of the hay stories that started the excitement on Drovers.com. In this article, Roberts says hay is expensive to make and encourages producers to find other options for winter feed.
He offers 10 key reasons why you should quit making hay. Read the full story.
1. Mexican Border Closed Again as New World Screwworm Comes Within 370 Miles of the U.S.
On July 8, Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety and Quality reported a new case of NWS in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz, Mexico, which is approximately 160 miles northward of the current sterile fly dispersal grid on the eastern side of the country and 370 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
This detection came approximately two months after northern detections were reported in Oaxaca and Veracruz, less than 700 miles away from the U.S. border, which triggered the closure of our ports to Mexican cattle, bison and horses on May 11, 2025.
While USDA announced a risk-based phased port re-opening strategy for cattle, bison and equine from Mexico beginning as early as July 7, 2025, this newly reported NWS case raised significant concerns. Therefore, to protect American livestock and the U.S. food supply, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry effective immediately.
The ports remain closed as 2025 comes to an end. Read the full story.
