Beef | ąű¶ł´«Ă˝ Our Members Bring Choice, Value & Innovation to Agriculture Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:31:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.4 /wp-content/uploads/2023/09/fema-favicon-75x75.png Beef | ąű¶ł´«Ă˝ 32 32 USDA Reports Beef Cow Herd Near Record Low /news/usda-reports-beef-cow-herd-near-record-low/ Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:30:13 +0000 /?p=23026 Changes in beef cow inventory are related to the phases of the cattle cycle–the expansion (increase) and contraction (decrease) of the U.S. beef cattle herd over time.

This cycle evolves gradually and tends to span 8 to 12 years. The cyclical pattern follows the biological nature of beef cattle production and cattle producers’ responses to changes in prices and climate conditions.

The current cattle cycle, which began in 2014, is now in a contraction phase, with inventory contracting at an increasing rate each year since 2020. On January 1, 2023, U.S. beef cow inventory was 28.9 million head, 3.6 percent less than the previous year.

Drought is a significant contributor to recent declines in beef cow inventory, in part because of the detrimental effects of dry weather patterns on pasture and range conditions. At the start of 2023, nearly 93 percent of U.S. beef cows were in States where most of the pasture and range were rated in “very poor” to “fair” condition based on data from the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Cattle producers periodically provide supplemental feed, such as hay, to maintain animals when pasture conditions are poor. According to NASS, producers faced record-high prices of non-alfalfa hay during the last two quarters of 2022 and in each month through the beginning of 2023.

High hay prices increase the cost of maintaining cattle and provide an incentive for producers to remove cattle from their herds. Except for one month in 2022, monthly beef cow slaughter has been higher year over year since March 2021.

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]]> Cattle Ranchers Fight Fake Meat Movement /featured-small/cattle-ranchers-fight-fake-meat-movement/ Tue, 03 Dec 2019 21:55:55 +0000 /?p=8886 Cattle ranchers and their allies are pushing regulators to scrutinize alternative meat-makers, recruiting food scientists to test plant-based products for potential health risks, and ramping up counter-campaigns to highlight beef’s nutritional benefits while comparing their rivals to dog food.

They’ve even created a digital assistant, available on voice-activated Google and Amazon devices, that can answer consumers’ questions about beef and, when pressed, beef alternatives.

“The best alternative to beef,” it says, “is more beef.”

Over the past two years, the beef industry has pushed legislation that restricts terms like “beef” and “meat” to the kind raised on the hoof, not products derived from plants or future foods developed using animal cells in labs.

Various labeling laws are now on the books in 12 states and were considered this year in 15 others, with a federal bill introduced in October.
For restaurants and grocery stores, growth is coming not from the real thing, but from a new generation of meatless products that combine proteins from soy or yellow peas with potato starch, beet juice and other ingredients to more closely mimic beef’s sizzle and juiciness.

U.S. retail meat sales fell 0.4 percent in the past 12 months through October, while sales of alternative meat grew 8 percent, according to market-research firm Nielsen. In the 12 months before that, meat sales fell 0.8 percent while sales of alternatives rose 21 percent.

Plant-based alternatives amount to the equivalent of just 1 percent of the total volume of meat sold in the U.S., according to Nielsen. But some beef producers see an existential threat in the growth of meat-alternative
makers like Impossible Foods Inc. and Beyond.

“Anytime someone walks in the grocery store and makes a decision not to purchase our product and purchase another… we’ve lost a potential consumer,” said Jess Peterson, a cowboy-hat-sporting lobbyist for the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association who also raises cattle in Montana. “It’s a very small number, but it’s a number that can grow.”

Source: Wall Street Journal

]]> Beef Prices Rise in Response to Demand in Asia /news/ag/beef-prices-rise-in-response-to-demand-in-asia/ Tue, 22 Oct 2019 18:10:32 +0000 /?p=8423 Cattle prices in the U.S. have risen since September as a protein shortage in Asia drives bets that livestock will be in increasingly high demand.

Prices for many cuts of beef were advertised higher this week than at this time last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A common variety of ground beef sold for an average of $3.75 a pound this week, for instance, up nearly 20 percent from a year earlier.

The rally coincides with the continued spread of African swine fever in Asia. The virus—fatal for pigs but harmless to humans—was found in South Korea in September, after surfacing in North Korea in May. As of last week, 145,000 pigs have been culled in South Korea, the government reported.

The disease has devastated hog herds in China, the world’s largest pork market. Roughly 1.17 million hogs have been culled there since August 2018 in an effort to stop the disease, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This widespread slaughter has pushed the price for pork in China up 69 percent.

The U.S. beef industry is aiming to fill some of that protein deficit. Beef exports to South Korea are already 8 percent higher than last year, totaling 174,290 metric tons through August, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Exports to Japan were 3 percent lower in that time frame, but demand is expected to pick up as meat supplies tighten in the region. A U.S.-Japan trade deal reached in August also will likely boost demand. The agreement reduces or removes tariffs on some $7 billion in U.S. agricultural goods exported to Japan annually, including beef.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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