Fed Cattle
While shoppers balk at $6 ground beef, they routinely spend double or triple that per pound on lattes, potato chips and dog food. Here is why domestic beef remains a financial bargain — and why artificial price-crushing policies could trigger a permanent supply crisis.
Ground beef demand remains strong as cattle producers push back on Trump’s latest beef import plan that sent cattle prices sinking. Ranchers say consumers don’t have a beef price problem — they have a fuel price problem.
Placements down 11% signal tighter front-end supplies, but Northern feedyards face renewed basis pressure as packer capacity shrinks and trade policy headlines add fresh uncertainty.
From JBS Souderton’s $30 million value-added pivot to Tyson’s Nebraska shutdown, the processing sector is restructuring around high-efficiency plants, heavier carcasses and automated lines.
Despite stepped up efforts by producers to keep cattle cool, there have been reports of rising death losses in cattle feedlots from North to South.
Can moderate-sized cows win the industry’s biological ‘tug-of-war’? OSU’s Mark Johnson shares real-world data proving that highly efficient commercial dams can still yield heavy carcass endpoints.
Heavier cattle are bridging the supply gap, but the industry is testing the upper limits of “acceptable” as backfat and ribeye sizes swell.
New World screwworm was confirmed in the U.S., yet cattle futures rallied. An Ever.Ag analyst explains why uncertainty mattered more than the confirmation itself.
CattleFax’s Holden Ramey says grass plus profitability equals more cattle — but ongoing drought and volatility are slowing herd rebuilding despite strong price signals.
Linnell cites lower marketings, reduced Mexican feeder flows and drought plus heifer retention as drivers of a tighter market.
Andrew Bredeweg is blending high-tech cattle feeding with community leadership to ensure that young people have a reason to stay in agriculture.
Beef has built a rapidly widening price gap over competing meats in the grocery store. This trend has become increasingly pronounced since the early 2000s, but as beef supplies have tightened over the past three years, the pace of the widening price disparity has accelerated.
U.S. feedlot inventory hits 11.5 million as the closure of Lubbock Feeders signals growing pressure from border disruptions and declining cow herd numbers.
University of Arkansas’ James Mitchell explains the cost of price risk in 2026 could be no different than last fall.
With the lack of rebuilding the strong cattle market could be extended another year.
Family-centered farming operation yields big dividends and rewards for Ohio couple.
University of Kentucky’s Burdine says low domestic cattle inventory, combined with the ban on live cattle imports from Mexico, continue to keep cattle supplies tight.
Brad Kooima discusses the drivers behind current cattle market volatility and how supply shortages are shaping packer strategies.
UNL predicts closure will result in $3.28 billion in annual statewide economic losses. The analysis projects more than 7,000 jobs lost statewide, including 3,212 plant positions, along with significant reductions in labor income and state and local tax revenues.
Cattle producers and industry leaders share their concerns as the calendar advances to 2026.
Terrain’s Dave Weaber says placements of cattle into feedlots will continue to shrink, long-feared beef slaughter capacity reductions have arrived, and the beef cow herd hasn’t begun to expand.
November feedlot placements lowest since at least 1996, marketings down 12%.