President Donald Trump announced today that import quotas on beef will be lifted for a period of 90-days in an effort to remove pricing stress on cattle and give U.S. ranchers an opportunity to restore herd head count.
The short-term effort is directed to lower consumer prices, while in the longer term the U.S. cattle industry undergoes market-based reforms to eliminate monopolistic industrial practices.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Today, I concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families. As everyone knows, under President Biden, beef prices soared at their fastest rate and the American beef herd fell to its smallest size in modern history. As we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff. We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices. This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP
President Trump gave remarks about the issue during a tarmac presser en route to South Carolina. [PROMPTED]
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Massie is already screaming, but he owns a cattle operation in Kentucky so…
He screams at everything Trump does
Someone needs to AI Massie’s face onto that infamous mental lefty screaming after 2016 President Trump win.
WITH DEFERENCE TO WORDMAN:
<He screams at everything Trump does>
Trump is not cowed, and takes no bull from anyone, especially when price increases are at steak.
No one cares about Massie!
He is finished
He can hang out with Cucker Qatarlson.
Who?
I read elsewhere that the national cattleman association is not happy due to imported beef being brought in yet their herds are at low numbers.
Sounds like TDS symptoms.
Think a second….raising beef is a long term investment.
You market or sell whether large producer or small when the crop brings the best price. (At a certain weight/age target).
If your crop is ready inside the next 90 days plus then the feedlots will not be offering very much for your crop.
The only ones making a profit will be the large feedlots and meatpackers…..and do you trust quality controls on imported beef?
Next time you buy cheap hamburger over next 90 days ( and longer for most will arrive frozen) you will likely get tough old cow instead of prime beef.
This small producer will survive but don’t pee down my back and ask me to like it.
Playing into the hands of the big Ag guys once again.
The only incentive to increase herds is a stable and profitable market.
Thanks for your insights.
You are welcome John. There are always lots of sides to every story.
Regenerative farming and local meat packing would increase producer profits and lower consumer costs while increasing quality and elinating the big Ag feedlots and meatt packer middle men who pocket most of the profits in our artificial US meat market.
Right now local meat packing is expensive….because govt.
Executive Order: Advancing Regenerative Agriculture and Strengthening American Farm Resilience, June 25, 2026
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/06/advancing-regenerative-agriculture-and-strengthening-american-farm-resilience/
I LOVE seeing this. Thank you for posting. We have been buying our beef from a small, local, regenerative farm for a few years. The meat is not only tasty but is also healthy, grass fed and finished. It is VERY disheartening to me to see the increase in imported food. Mexican poop lettuce is just one example of why America should grow its own food. Good grief, haven’t we learned the lessons of off shoring all our manufanufacturing to foreign countries?!! Now we want to try this with food!!!
Agree! Grow in USA. Imported fruit is terrible and I don’t care what country is the source. Absoultely need to stop imported all leafy greens from Mexico. I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I am 100% behind USA being our meat source. I loved the Brits visiting TX during the World Cup and going crazy over the meat! Great videos.
USA is the best in everything we do if we just stick to the game plan __ USA! USA! USA!
A key word in the excellent comments, above, is MIDDLE MEN! In business, gov’t (at all) levels, education (at all levels) and sometimes the military (former U.S. Naval Flight Officer, here), there are entirely Too Many Middle Men with their hands out for the grift, the squeeze, or however it might be phrased. Those Middle Men need to be “doged” as effecively and quickly as possible.
Break Up Big AG. More and smaller meatpackers. Get CCP out of AG
Right now local meat packing is expensive….because govt.
yep trump is now allowing ranchers to process their own meat that’s uge…you need to keep up….
Montana please refer me to any changes to usda inspection requirements that you are aware of.
As of right now to sell less than a quarter of a beef the beef must be processed at a usda inspected facility.
I can have my beef processed for my own use by anyone or any facility willing to do it…..but I cannot sell that meat.
I can sell you a whole Animal or a half or a quarter and you pay to have it processed …for your own use.. by anyone willing to do so.
Most often a rancher sells a half or quarters to multiple buyers ahead of time and it’s all processed together whether by him or a processor.
Again if you or anyone else knows of changes to that requirement please post it.
If the beef goes through a usda inspected facility so as to sell steaks chops etc the price to process goes way up……thus govt.
Aside from inspection, USDA also administers through agricultural marketing service the “grading” process and the requirements of the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921.
We need different regulations for local beef. We process our own and it is so clean even in our minimal facilities. Direct producer to consumer meat sales is an entirely different animal than the many step supplr chain to grocery stores and our rules need to reflect that.
TN here, I buy my beef from a local butcher shop who raises his own cattle not far from me. I get to see it go from his farm to my table quick, like and in a hurry. He sells either quarter, half or per single pound all packaged up in vacuum sealed bags labeled individually, be it ground round, steaks, roasts and bones like an old fashioned butcher with no 3rd party intervention other than the regular health inspector, and I love it
Whether the price at the supermarket goes down 25% or not, I’m still going to buy all of my meat proteins, including beef – from a local producer/seller.
The big meat packers & big Ag will still have to do without my business.
What I want to see is local being available everywhere. I have lived in rural areas for the last two decades and yet have trouble sourcing local meat. It is often “sold out” to existing customers (which I have no beef about that – it’s what should happen if scarce). We literally had to go to raising our own. But beef has a long life cycle and we get in between our own often.
We have even tried buying market ready steers from local producers. They don’t want to do that even if we offer the same price which is weird but has been our experience.
OK answered my previous question. So having Dept Ag assist in increasing farming efficiency and having packing occur locally would solve beef problem
Why do you call current meat market artificial–because gov/big Ag are controlling it?
Not sure his reasons but meat packing is highly controlled by a few companies.
I used Google to get the specifics.
The Dominant “Big Four”
Four major corporations control roughly 80% to 85% of the U.S. beef processing capacity, and they also heavily dominate pork and poultry production: [1]
Other Notable Players
Aside from the dominant four, several other large, separate companies handle significant shares of U.S. pork and poultry processing:
Bring back local meat processing!!!!!
This is one key part of the revival for so many reasons. It would be cheaper overall especially to smaller producers and it is more humane. I also think it would translate into local beef being more accessible to consumers.
but …isn’t that the entire premise of the future/commodities markets for these major food corporations?
the mitigate the risk of rising prices in production whether from lack of supply or competition from abroad.
the hard reality is that the futures market that was set up to keep prices “normal”, no longer functions to accomplish any of that.
in fact, what we see is that major food corporations can withhold the supply at will, AND then place massive futures options (which remain subsidized by the US GOVT…THE PEOPLE’S MONEY). The result is producing less and making even more profit margins.
I don’t know the answer to this obvious problem…I would not advocate the US gov’t regulate price control models. But I also believe that tarifs are counter productive..to consumers.
in the end, we all end up paying more and more for basic food stuffs. And that is a problem related to food corps controlled by shareholders, who demand growth….(not growth in supply or volume…growth in the portfolio).
just my thoughts on the matter
eventually, this is going to get far worse than it is. Competition, even and especially from foreign nations have a much higher impact on domestic pricing. Slam them with tarifs, and that competition element vanishes and it becomes more or less a captive market and price is no longer subject to the basic supply and demand.
I am not a believer in tarifs. All they do is help US companies screw consumers, and gives them political cover…just following the presidents’ tarif agenda.
fortunately for some of us, grower, or consumers of local farms….we are somewhat protected from the rising prices of major corporations…buy local also does the thing that tarifs can not accomplish. put money back into the local farms and businesses.
God Bless America
I am not a believer in tarifs. All they do is help US companies screw consumers, and gives them political cover…just following the presidents’ tarif agenda.
i believe you are wrong here and only time will show which of us is right….also believe that some of what’s being done is breaking up big ag, piece by piece…..watch and hold your peace.
You are wrong vis a vis tariffs.
Go read the Promethean PAC page. Per the American System advocated there if you have a job producing a product in America that is generally imported and tariffed then you benefit directly.
And that is the purpose, aside from the freedom issues.
Don’t forget you have the “Funds” in the futures market as well that drive prices depending on which side of the market they are on. This hurts the ag industry and those that it is meant to protect. Hedging off your cattle or feeders. The volitility drives the funds and kills the normal hedgers in the markets with the margin calls they receive. You need really deep pockets to fight the funds.
We buy our beef from a very small rancher who lives in our neighborhood. There are a number of those people and you just have to know where to look and buy local. Then you know exactly what’s going on with them. Btw he finishes them on a mash brew from one of our local breweries……..
See above thread reply to your first post.
If he’s selling uninspected cuts after processing rather than prior to …..rather than quarters, halves or whole animals before processing and you paying to process then he’s risking his neck .
My butcher shop/cattle farmer raises, butchers, packages and sells his own beef cattle that he breeds and raises himself without 3rd party intervention other than the regular health inspectors at his butcher shop across the road with his farm just 18 miles away. He opened his old fashioned butcher shop in 2020 and it’s awesome
“You market or sell whether large producer or small when the crop brings the best price. (At a certain weight/age target).
If your crop is ready inside the next 90 days plus then the feedlots will not be offering very much for your crop.”
If there are no herds, there is no need for feed?
So how does DJT make for a stable and profitable beef market?
Hard for the carrle/feeders to buy replacements when prices are this high. Their breakevens are then even higher when you factor in how many days they are on feed and the cost to feed them. that in itself cause prices to rise or if they fall that cattle person loses a lot of money. Can’t stay n business very long if you are always losing money.
I’m very glad President Trump is attacking this problem. But it is complex and has been built over decades and it cannot be put right in a year or two. There can certainly be a great start. If God is merciful, we will elect another President who cares and continues this work.
We need ENFORCEMENT of anti-trust laws. Seriously.
The number one problem with our beef prices is our Goverment via the USDA. The USDA was created to give large corporations an unfair advantage over the local farmer. The cattle industry is run by four corporations that colluede on prices! Worse yet, I think 3 of 4 our owned by foriegn entities (CPP. Every place your find a problem you will see that our benevlent Govermnet is right there in the action! Massie & Mary Taylor Green are WAB’s that did nothing to fix the real problem. John Thune is just as bad if not worse than those two clowns.
Cattle ranchers are FURIOUS over this.
Due diligence before condemning the ranchers.
I’d like a credible explanation as to why the herds haven’t at least partially recovered by now.
Because the droughts a few years ago and low prices put some ranchers out of business completely. Not a business you can build back quickly from scratch.
That makes sense.
Not to mention the gestation period of 283 days on average for beef cattle, plus 18-24 months before slaughter.
Then it doesn’t make sense that three months of importing possible disease infected beef will help the herds recover.
But it will lower beef prices before the November elections.
that’s not a guarantee. We shall see what actually happens at the store…you know where prices and real people do business.
God Bless America
Need 3 years
And cost of feed and minerals exploded during Biden admin, partly due to fuel costs. And draught conditions afterwards didn’t help. Many local beef producers could barely afford to buy supplemental feed (and you couldnt find hay because draught hurt hayfield production) and sold off some of their stock. Folks don’t think about how fuel prices affect animal feeds. Diesel to harvest it, diesel to process into feed, diesel to deliver to stores/ stock farms.
… and diesel is the one fuel the Financial Masters has NOT allowed to dip below 5$ per gallon and in fact the cost has rised by 25/50 cents per gallon.
Yes, the explosion in cost for feed / fertilizer FOR the feed has been covered here by Sundance himself. These prices are probably lower than we honestly expected, thanks to Trump winning 2024. If this was Biden 2.0, we’d very likely see industry wide price controls.
My family has twice as many cattle as before, not sure who is making up all the BS lies…. aside from the Beef monopolies that shouldn’t be allowed. (In any industry to sway the markets.)
It would be wonderful if this was across the board.
I know 3 people who have gone out of beef entirely and one who cut way back.
May your enterprise continue to be blessed.
It’s the drought causing this.
To what degree did Bidenflation harm the domestic cattle industry, and is our supply situation today still recovering from it?
From Google –
“Broad macroeconomic inflation during the Biden administration (“bidenflation”) significantly impacted the U.S. cattle industry by driving up production expenses—including a 13.5% jump in feed and over a 20% surge in fuel costs in 2021 alone—which squeezed rancher profit margins and accelerated herd liquidation.
Feed and Grain:
High fertilizer and crop prices inflated the cost of finishing cattle in feedlots.
Fuel and Energy:
Skyrocketing diesel and propane prices increased operational expenses for moving livestock, running machinery, and maintaining ranches.
Labor Shortages:
Wage competition in processing and general labor markets raised packing and ranch overhead.
Herd Liquidation and Supply ShiftsDrought and Expenses Combined:
Persistent drought conditions paired with high operational costs forced ranchers to shrink herds, resulting in multi-year lows in the total U.S. beef cattle inventory.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Supply:
Liquidation temporarily increased the supply of beef at slaughterhouses, but subsequently led to tighter market supplies and higher retail beef prices for consumers.
Regulatory and Policy FrictionAdministration Scrutiny:
The White House and the USDA blamed meatpacking industry concentration for consumer sticker shock, rolling out competition rules and funding for independent processors.
Industry Pushback:
Industry groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association countered that broad inflation, high energy costs, and federal regulatory overreach—rather than packer price-fixing—were the primary drivers of financial strain on producers.“
Wondering how things are doing, back at the ranch, oh, 7 miles NW of Crawford, Texas….
Bush ranch???
I remember those staged videos of Jr cutting brush by hand….yeah right.
Recovered from when?
From the time a calf is born until it is taken to market (which includes several steps in between) is 18 to 24 months.
Now go back a step. Cows typically birth their first calf at 24 months.
Back up one more step. That cow was in her momma’s tummy for 9 months.
So nearly 5 years from the intention to breed a heifer that will have calves to raise to grow out to market weight to be processed for the supply chain.
And this is before talking about droughts and markets and land use and age of ranchers.
Do you begin to see the problem?
It’s to help with the midterms…
The 90-day window is strategically aligned to lower visible grocery costs just before voters head to the polls in November.
Maybe but risks losing as many votes as gaining any….government should stay out of business in our republic. The American system doesn’t work if government makes business artificial.
I love our great President and what he has done and tried to do but it’s sometimes best to stay out of the kitchen and not listen to bad advice……
Monti I get your point but like it or not more people eat beef then raise it I dont think there is a big political downside to this. Also regarding the ranchers my understanding was that the ranchers werent getting diddly and the big three meat packers were controling the price paid to ranchers and the price paid by consumers.
‘…government should stay out of business in our republic. The American system doesn’t work if government makes business artificial.’
Government is fully entwined with business now. “Public-private partnerships” aka corporatism, aka neo-fascism.
It’s a republic in name only.
And the whole thing is spinning down a managed decline path.
The beef? Recall that modRNA injections in cattle may be occurring outside the US, it is possible that this move to increase beef imports is a way to put more modRNA-tainted beef into the American diet.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mrna-injections-cattle-labeling-cola/
According to Monti, if a business want to buy cheap crap from China made by slave labor and sell it in the US for 5 times the price, they should do it. That is government staying out of business in the republic. We tried it your way Monti for 30-40 years and it is a failure.
It’s food! not a tv or phone
🎯
this can easily backfire if prices do not drop. And I think this will have no impact.
it will probably have a massive impact on the futures market…for wallstreets players, this is a bonanza. ANY KIND OF VOLATILTY, especially those shaped by US policy is like a sure bet.
If this is a strategy to get more voters to the polls favoring MAGA, I would call it one of the most risky moves to do so.
God Bless America
I have noticed that Trump is into considerably risky deals recently.
Fingers crossed for a course correction after the mid-terms, especially if the risky deals lead to a better structure in Congress.
Got a problem with that?
No.
And that is a great idea!
Beef has been climbing higher for last few years. Yes, part of the reason has been related to the herds being decimated by drought and other factors….but by now herds should have largely recovered. But they haven’t.
May this 90 tariff holiday will incentivize domestic cattlemen to start growing their herds. Yeah…it takes a few years, but the trend needs to turn around.
Meanwhile, maybe Ull see regular ground beef under $10 a pound soon 😎
If the real problem is the meat packers and grocery stores then having a bigger herd of cattle won’t fix the underlying problems.
The local butcher shop that butchers my personal animals is closing this fall. The owner is in his 70’s and his help is all retirement age.
He can’t get young help to show up for work. He can’t sell the facility because it has things that are grandfathered in that would cost so much to fix if anyone bought it that it would be cheaper to start over.
He has a great profitable business that serves a lot of people.
The local usda socialist, power tripped bi— inspector has been trying to put him out of business since she has gotten the job.
If President Trump wants to help the cattlemen and the consumer, the first place to start would be by cleaning the bought and paid for crooks and power-hungry socialists out the usda.
PREACH!!!
If government wanted to help us, they would incentivize a young local AMERICAN buyer that plans to keep the business going.
I am going to incentivize you to work harder by cutting your paycheck while your bills that you can’t pay already continue to increase.
$4.44/Lb for 10 Lb roll on Wallmart+ right now delivered from the store around the corner to my door.
Biden also slaughtered millions of chickens to reduce our food supply and drive up prices. The left in general has been deliberately and systematically killing the beef industry and driving up prices for many years
and let’s not forget the greenhouse gasbags at the wef working behind scenes to stifle meat production and to get us eating bugs
You mean it was done by the Biden puppet regime.
Biden was just an incompetent puppet, by design.
Trump is a different kind of puppet, by design.
All designs supporting a longer term Plan.
What is the Plan? Managed decline of the West.
This is about one year overdue. Maybe more.
I saw ground beef for $11.99 per pound at a local grocery store. Cheap stuff was $7.99 per pound.
Don’t expect midterm enthusiasm from people paying those prices.
The Trump administration has done much that is good. VERY much. Sorry to say that ground beef has not been their strong point.
Just like $4 gas seems to be a psychological economic weathervane, so too is $10 a pound ground beef.
If both still exceed those limits come November, the GZoP could lose.
Why don’t President Trump start importing gasoline to bring down the price of gas?
Gas companies made record profits last quarter.
Most people could get by without ground beef. Not so much with gasoline.
WE import of lot of gas here in Hawaii. Most of it was coming from Russia but now that that is off the table we are buying from South America so that is pushing the cost up.
Which is surreal when you think about it, because under the Biden regime, no one in power cared about affordability in general, let alone at the grocery store. In fact, the talking mannequins of the state media parroted the meme that it was somehow unpatriotic to complain about affordability while the Usurper was in power.
So yes, maybe a lot of people will forget about how bad things were during the last Democrat occupation, and how things have begun to turn around now. But to what end, to go back to the way things were? Are we that nearsighted as an electorate?
J
Yes. The general electorate is that nearsighted. Especially the “ballot” part.
In my area, pork is still relatively cheap., cheaper than chicken sometimes.
Yes and it makes good spaghetti.
Big Ag pork has been tainted with modRNA injections for years in the US.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pork-merck-mrna-livestock-vaccine-cola/
Pork raised by small farmers is expensive.
I’m sure the 92% of cattle ranchers who voted for him are thrilled with this.
The government trying to control food pricing feels awfully communistic to me.
Aren’t the existing tariffs or imported beef evidence of government trying to control pricing? That is, keeping it high to “protect” domestic suppliers?
Just asking 😎
Hamburger is $8 when it should be $3 give me a break…. Lol.
Those that push us around prefer us to dine on bugs.
Go to a restaurant in Brazil and you will see two prices for a beef steak. The lower price is for local beef. But it’s an extra 10% for the higher quality Argentinian steaks.
My brother n law is a beef producer, a rancher. He is not happy because the price of beef is high because of the beef packer houses. The ranchers are getting better prices at auction than a few years ago but the big bucks are being made by the 4 companies that control 85% of the meatpacking industry.
Tyson foods, Cargill, JBS and National Beef are making the big bucks.
Their combined total control of the beef industry prices are the biggest factor in high grocery store prices. Break up that monopoly and your prices at the grocery store will drop dramatically.
If more and more consumers buy their beef from private producers in the ranch direct to consumer market then maybe a change might happen?
I hate to think what a typical Sunday roast beef would cost these days.
Tyson is closing their Illinois and Utah meatpacking plants and has their Washington state one up for sale.
Because it is more cost efficient to ship the cattle to another facility that is not running at full capacity and close some plants.
It is not because they are losing money. They are just not making as much as they were because they can’t get as many cattle.
Losing money is when your costs are more than your income. Not when your big fat income shrinks to a fat income.
Tyson invested a lot of money building the Utah plant
Prices of Charley beef in Europe this past summer has been lower than the US prices for the first time I can remember in 40 yrs. This Beef thing REEKS of manipulation by American processors of Beef. Farm producers have had to endure some problems in some areas of the US but Florida Grass Beef has had no problems yet prices have been increasing because of Processing and Packing house politics of BiG AG interest.
Beef and Pork processing are extraordinarily concentrated. The top 4 meat processors dominate both markets.
No company should be able to own more than 5% of the market…. We really need to crack down on these monopoly’s in all industries.
A vast majority of beef in the U.S. comes from Mexico and South America.
The only way to purchase American beef is online or local butcher shops.
Screw worms have infected Mexican beef and some South American beef yet it doesn’t seem to matter.
Most retailers will refuse to lower prices because they want Americans to suffer just like the fraudulent gas market.
Check out the price of bread at the stores. You would think there is a shortage of wheat in this Country. The problem is that ever since Covid, these Companies have gotten away with murder charging highway robbery prices for their product’s and they are not about to stop now.
How can you be so wrong and still respect yourself?
Less than 10% of beef sold in the US is imported.
And the 3 largest importers, in order, are Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
Screw worm was supposed to be stopped at the Darien Gap.
That was before all the invaders carried it with them from parts south of Panama through Mexico and back to the border States.
Pushing that parasite back past the Darien Gap took many years and a lot of resources originally. It will not be any easier this time around.
Sanjay, don’t know where you got your figures but less than 20% of beef sold in the U.S. originates in foreign countries.
I live in the Texas hill country and my whole family is involved in ranching.
That’s great news. Beef prices have been overpriced for 40 years and it’s about time for something to be done!
Deport 10-15 million illegal steak taco eaters and it should lower the price of beef. The problem is not all on the supply side.
Correct. Let them get their carne asada in the country they invaded us from.
I got no beef with that.
The first mis use of the commerce clause and the squash of the push back of New Deal involvement in farm production.
Supreme Court screws the Republic 101.
An Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat to feed animals on his own farm. The U.S. government had established limits on wheat production, based on the acreage owned by a farmer, to stabilize wheat prices and supplies.
(Govt messing with business…a dim govt…Roosevelt. )
Filburn grew more than was permitted and so was ordered to pay a penalty. In response, he said that because his wheat was not sold, it could not be regulated as commerce, let alone “interstate” commerce (described in the Constitution as “Commerce … among the several states”).
The Supreme Court disagreed: “Whether the subject of the regulation in question was ‘production’, ‘consumption’, or ‘marketing’ is, therefore, not material for purposes of deciding the question of federal power before us. …
But even if appellee’s activity be local and though it may not be regarded as commerce, it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce and this irrespective of whether such effect is what might at some earlier time have been defined as ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’.”[2]
The Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which permits the U.S. Congress “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”.
The Court decided that Filburn’s wheat-growing activities reduced the amount of wheat he would buy for animal feed on the open market, which is traded nationally, is thus interstate, and is therefore within the scope of the Commerce Clause.
(Think about that for a second…..remember this happened after the 17th amendment. )
Although Filburn’s relatively small amount of production of more wheat than he was allotted would not affect interstate commerce itself, the cumulative actions of thousands of other farmers like Filburn would become substantial. Therefore, the Court decided that the federal government could regulate Filburn’s production.[3]
Once again a large lurch away from our founders Republic and the nose under the tent for the Fed to step all over other businesses.
I give up. I was trying to post a “Where’s the beef” meme from the old Wendy’s commercial. (and I used to be a computer guy)…
Thank you! 🥰
A favorite!
And thank you too! This dang near embarrassing, not being able to remember how to do this stuff anymore! Lol
From a dear friend in Copeland, KS, where drought has wiped out cattle feed.
“Those Tyson plants that are closing are moving production to Holcomb Kansas. Its all about cheap labor with contract foreign nationals on special visas. The UN has a program for Somali refugees, they rented literal blocks of apartments in Garden City long term and have buses hauling them to work. While Kansans are normally pretty easy going and tolerant , the absolute arrogance of some of those people cutting in line at stores and yelling at you in their native tongue when you protest is starting to wear pretty thin. I stay out of Walmart on Saturday so I don’t have to deal with them but the Mexican people who traditionally work in the packing houses are being pushed out for people who were literally pirates last year, so tension is building. Its a funny world, Wyatt Earp would never believe there is a Mosque in Dodge City Kansas.”………. send all those bastards back to Somalia and other points east…. damn the all.
Whaaaat???? Kansas here. Had no idea. Thank you for the post.
No words….Somalia invaded Kansas with the help of the UN while we were not watching….what the heck is next? Outrageous! *^%##%!!!!!@
I am stealing that last word, because it articulates everything we are not permitted to post here:) Nicely done!
This is all going to come to head. People are not going to tolerate this for much longer. This Muslim scum will have to leave or die. There are no other options.
“give U.S. ranchers an opportunity to restore herd head count”
A cow has a calf or two every year or two. So that is going to take some time and $.
Swine can have two litters of up to 10-12 piglets a year. Chickens lay an egg almost every day.
Those facts, as well as the middlemen, big ag monopolies, gov’t regs, etc. others have mentioned here already have all combined to result in the prices we are seeing.
One calf every year for every head cow…..if you experience no losses.
Last year I personally lost 2…..that smarted a bit.
Beef shortage, according one rancher and Ozzyman…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1tABu0zlsAw
Here in southern middle TN, in a very ag county, the beef producers are unhappy with this decision. FYI, this county is very red.
The FDA Policy that Kills Animals
And we all pay the price.
Dr. Robert W. Malone
Feb 19, 2026
“…The reality in rural America, where poverty is widespread and frugality is key, is that a simple eye infection or wound might go untreated because of the costs. Costs that just two years ago would have been a small expense could now be half of someone’s paycheck. Now, the risk of that infection becoming life-threatening has risen significantly.
Yet this policy shift occurred against a stark reality.
THE USA has a severe shortage of large-animal veterinarians.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has lost roughly 90 percent of its large-animal and livestock veterinarians, according to a 2023 Johns Hopkins study. Today, only about 1.3 to 5 percent of registered veterinarians specialize in food-animal or mixed-animal practice, with just over 8,000 serving nationwide. More than 500 counties across 46 states are federally designated veterinary shortage areas. In many rural regions, farmers must drive hours to find a practitioner willing and able to treat cattle, sheep, goats, or poultry.
The practical realities are obvious. One cannot load a sick herd of sheep or a dangerous mature bull into a stock trailer and haul them to a clinic half a day away without risking severe stress or death. Furthermore, most large-animal veterinarians do not have on-site facilities to treat livestock, which are extremely expensive. They work out of their trucks….”
https://www.malone.news/p/the-fda-policy-that-kills-animals
And……they took away the ability of producers to administrator penicillin or antibiotics like pills for calves with scours (diarrhea). Big Pharma and Big Ag again.
People who can’t pay their bills will spend thousands of dollars on surgery for their cat or dog or do without for themselves to be able to treat their overfed pet for diabetes.
The vets are going where the big insured cat or dog money is.
It is not easy money to pull a calf at 2 o’clock on a freezing snowy morning.
My niece is a vet. She had to go outside the USA to get her training 15 yrs ago because there were so few vet colleges. Not sure if that’s still true; we have a new vet school in Utah.
Our direct neighbors where we live have several sections of pasture. Cows come up to the fence by the driveway. Always at start of warm weather things are quite noseable. We get used to it after awhile. Rotating cattle around the various pastures. Sometimes the cows get out onto the rural road. They always seem to have 20-40 head. The family has been doing it for decades. I’m sure everything is paid off and they probably lease across street old home place land for pennies. Probably little if any long term debt.
I’ll ask sometime what the story is with the cattle issue.
Ask instead if you like a burger or steak occasionally.
Farms are not zoos or petting parks nor neighborhood free space…..they are private land.
Your problem you bought land next to an active farm…..
Yes I have neighbors who don’t understand farming….maybe you have farmer neighbors you could try to better understand.
Not being antagonistic just trying to get you to think a little further.
Some how, some way I smell Wylie Wiles coyote rino whiffs of skunk scent on this move.
Per listening to radio station that covers the market prices in the agricultural sector,
the cattle market spokesperson saw the beef imports as a cause to for cattle market prices to decrease – short term.
The long term, futures, was not mentioned by the spokesperson.
( but the prices have been high for several years – due to low supply and high demand ).
And the grocery prices are high too.
p.s.
incrementally rebuilding herds is not easy but the high prices have attracted some cattle producers to invest (in feed supply, equipment, herd raising ) with hopes of a solid payout during future sale ( year(s) away.
p.s.
is there a productive market for selling summer time lawn weeds for animal food? ( ;
( other than the market for selling chemicals ) ?
I do not know
Imho
An article that quotes Ag Sec Rollins short and long term view
and
a rep of the cattlemen association ( short term view).
i.e.
imho
the short term ‘affordability’ of both gasoline and beef are being helped by the Trump admin. with several policy updates in August, this week that helps several everyday talks about prices, and lowered prices, in Sept-Nov., around the usa kitchen tables before the midterm elections.
They care…about both the short and long term prices.
https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-cattlemens-association-disappointed-with-trumps-decision-to-import-ground-beef/73500199
Supper tonight is a double Quarter Pounder with cheese. The beef comes from Australia.
And yes I am not in the USA.
Ta mate.
(The only time I had a burger in Australia….it tasted off….wondered if there was a bit of roo in there. )
Why is America Facing a Serious Beef Shortage?\
The beef shortage serves as an alert for America’s food supply chain, it highlights the need for collective solutions, deregulation, cost-efficient practices, and sharper trade policies.
Roger Stone
Oct 22, 2025
“…For ranchers, the prospects vary. While higher beef prices offer short-term gains, the costs of feed, fuel, and compliance remain sky-high, deterring new ranchers, slowing the rebuild of new herds. Cattle production is a long-term commitment, and growth cycles take years. The USDA estimated beef prices will rise another 3.2% in 2025, with per capita consumption dropping to 55 pounds by 2026. Relief may come by 2026 if herds rebound and global markets stabilize, but there’s no quick fix….”
https://www.stonecoldtruth.com/p/why-is-america-facing-a-serious-beef
DOJ to Investigate Meatpacking Oligopoly
Dean Henderson
Nov 21, 2025
“In a move that was long overdue, on November 7th President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to launch an antitrust investigation into what Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) called the “meatpacking oligopoly”.
Four giant multinational corporations have come to control the vast majority of beef processing in the US. They are Brazilian firm JBS, Cargill, Brazilian-owned National Beef and Tyson Foods.
According to Farm Action, ranchers have gone from earning 70 cents of every beef dollar in 1970 to earning only 37 cents today. Meanwhile the Big Four packers have gone from controlling 36% of the market in 1980 to processing 85% of all cattle today….”
https://deanhenderson.substack.com/p/doj-to-investigate-meatpacking-oligopoly
Agenda 21 -> 2030 was carefully planned for the America – no coincidence that in less than 10 years the majority of……….
independent dairy farms were gobbled up,
the beef industry dealt a near fatal blow,
independent home building contractors are near extinction,
auto insurance rates, collision repair policies, and emission regulations doubling cost of driving
skilled trdaesman thinned out to nothing and costs skyrocketed
heathcare turned into high profit deathcare
The price the feedlot gets for a finished steer has gone down roughly 14% since the last of May.
Has the price of your meat gone down in the store 14%?
Who got the money?
This ^
Where does your meat come from? What is the meat supply line like? Why is it so expensive, and how can prices come down?
The graphics come from the identified sources or google’s AI when not specified, while the regular text is written by me.
Meryl Nass
Aug 08, 2026
“….It seems to me that the federal government has been happy to allow the meatpackers to starve the ranchers, force many thousands to sell out, and encourage the consolidation of ranchlands. The fact that this has decimated US cattle herds and helped skyrocket the cost of meat has up to now apparently been of little concern to the DOJ, which has failed to enforce antitrust law in all the agriculture monopolies and near-monopolies for decades. Instead, the amount of imported meat has doubled in recent years.
Even USDA admitted in 2024 that while meatpackers cry that their margins are slim, the spread between what they pay for meat and what they sell it for in fact widened considerably….”
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/where-does-your-meat-come-from-what
The Trump admin cares about both the long and short term prices.
Ag Sec Rollins agrees.
The cattlemen assoc.expresses concern only about short term
price lowering due to lower price imported beef for 3 months.
[ but the cattle industry can not quickly increase production to meet the high short term demand. ]
Well, people consume products both
short term
and long term.
‘Affordability’ can be an issue during ( short term ) elections and elec results can have a long term affect on policy.
Article
https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-cattlemens-association-disappointed-with-trumps-decision-to-import-ground-beef/73500199
Sundance you have to explain how tarrifs don’t cause price inflation but reducing tarrifs cause price deflation.
Thanks
this implies that tariffs cause higher prices here, not abroad. (or both?) ?
this complicates the entire arguments made by this administration…that in order to level trade differences, tariffs shift the costs to the nation state selling into the US market.
but I don’t think that was ever the complete explanation…
think about energy prices for example.
factually, there would be nothing stopping US energy producers to sell inexpensive oil and gas into the US market…a different pricing model for exports. But what we find is that US energy producers have not done that. They follow a global pricing model with no preference for making energy more affordable to US consumers. It’s definitely exploiting the Strait of Hormuz debacle for example.
it is probably the same thing with beef. any excuse to drive up prices, tarif or not.
it will be interesting to actually see if there is any impact on meat prices when the tarifs hit.
my guess is that they will remain at least the same, level off at best at these higher prices.
we are not only captive to corrupt central state, but also to major food corporations who have exploited and exxagerated the true impact of this war, climate change, fertilizer, etc.
I’m not confident any of these tarifs will do anything that President Trump is using them to accomplish. At best, they have created “uncertainty” and that has had the impact of driving these major corporations to use that as an excuse to make obscene profit margins. THAT IS WHAT HAS CAUSED ALMOST ALL OF THESE SHARP INCREASES IN COSTS…passed along to consumers.
that’s how I see it
God Bless America
Had to double check — thought this must be the DSA web site.
It’s a problem that has been brewing for awhile … DROUGHT!
Historic shortage is squeezing an American dinner staple
and relief could be years away
By Amanda Macias , Fox Business
Posted on the New York Post
August 17, 2026
Tyson said recent USDA data suggest supply constraints are likely to persist. USDA data shows the U.S. entered 2026 with about 86.2 million cattle and calves, the smallest herd since the early 1950s.
Relief from high beef prices may depend on something that can’t be fixed overnight: rebuilding America’s shrinking cattle herd.
America’s ranchers are facing their smallest cattle herd in 75 years, a shortage now rippling from pastures to some of the nation’s largest meat packers.
…
USDA data shows the U.S. entered 2026 with about 86.2 million cattle and calves, the smallest herd since the early 1950s. That’s down from roughly 94.7 million cattle and calves in 2019, a decline of more than 8 million animals.
Rebuilding that lost supply will take time, particularly after years of conditions that pushed ranchers to shrink their herds.
Chief among them is persistent drought.
“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, previously told Fox News Digital.
He said years of dry weather have depleted grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds. Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making the road to recovery even longer.
The effects are reaching beyond ranches and into grocery stores, where consumers are paying more for beef.
According to USDA data, the retail value of Choice beef rose from about $8.51 per pound in August 2024 to $10.49 per pound in July 2026, an increase of roughly 23%.
Behind that price pressure is a cattle supply crunch that experts say has been years in the making.
“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, previously told Fox News Digital.
He said years of dry weather have depleted grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds.
President Trump will do what he can.
Tyson says…I don’t believe them.
It’s very important to keep the “bread and circuses” going full-tilt as the empire declines.
College football starts next week. Must keep the sports bars well-stocked and profitable.
This is total BS listening to friends Ranching and Ranchers on X they are all screaming it doesn nothing to help them. Meats dont have to be labled either. Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. lost 141,733 farms — a 7% decline in total farm operations — according to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture https://services.bingapis.com/favicon?url=www.fb.org
American Farm Bureau Federation
. This means roughly 142,000 agricultural operations ceased to exist over that five-year period. Some are due to sales as they cant afford their Ranch or Farm. Happens here all the time. Cant blame them for selling to Home Builders to tear up the Soil. TRY TO BUY YOUR MEAT LOCALLY for Health and to support local Ranchers
The financial guy I listen to says the biggest problem facing the ranchers is the meat packing Monopoly. If President Trump wants to help the ranchers, he needs to break up the meat packing Monopoly, according to Jack Gamble at nobody special finance
It is hard to increase supply when calves are being sold close to $1000. A few years ago they were around $200 and someone can afford to start a small cattle operation or add to their herd.
A family member works at a non big 4 packing plant and they can barely run a full 40 hour shift because there are not enough cattle available to buy and butcher. Plenty of time to perform maintenance and do HR related stuff for the workers.
My recent experience , I took four angus 350 pound calf’s (yearlings as they call them) to the auction. 2 bulls, 2 heifers) the price per pound was around 5$ per pound if you were lucky. I received a check for 6000 at the end of the day. So yes I was happier than years past when I was lucky to get 1 (one) dollar per pound.
A herd cannot recover in 90 days!!
Detrimental bill helping only packers and grocers.
Poor uncontrolled meat coming in!
Maybe I am daft, but could someone please explain how importing beef at a 25% discount helps the little farmer?
If not, I’ll just let Trump be Trump.
And EPA has helped with what I believe is ultimately diesel fuel.
I don’t understand the technicalities sorry I can’t be more specific. Something to do with the blend, whatever the blend is for colder weather is now allowed for the restvof the warm weather season.
Got it from an official post on either X or TS.
Comments indicates cost relief.
Affordability!
“Farmers will be among the first to feel the damage. Agriculture consumes fuel directly through machinery and indirectly through fertilizer, irrigation, processing, refrigeration, and transportation. A farmer cannot simply stop operating a tractor because diesel has become expensive. Those costs must either be absorbed through lower margins or transferred into higher food prices. Many farmers are already confronting high interest rates, tariffs, drought conditions, and rising equipment costs. Diesel above $5 adds another expense at precisely the wrong time, and rural voters understand energy inflation far better than the economists sitting in Washington.” Martin Armstrong
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/world-trade/will-the-diesel-crisis-decide-the-2026-elections/
Several states require special gasoline blends, colloquially called “boutique” blends. CA, MI, and I don’t know which others. The change to the summer blend always drives prices up.
Gas still 4.59/gallon in pa. Being squeezed yet again
The skinny about meat industries, meat prices, raising livestock: Meryl with Melissa Blasek for DailyClout
35 minute audio session. This is much more interesting than you would guess.
Meryl Nass
Aug 25, 2026
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/the-skinny-about-meat-industries
Tariffs are good for the US, period. Trump is right in doing so to the meat market and big ag. We have all suffered in different ways and taken one for the team in MAGA. Its the ranchers time. Nonetheless, it is only for 90 days. I think if the importing continues and becomes something else then yeah probably not so good. But, for 90 days only trust Trump and his admin in this fight, and locals keep going to your local ranchers for their prime stock. That’s great.