The past year has been one of the most volatile in the history of the beef industry. Cattle producers, consumers and industry decision makers have an opportunity to join university and industry professionals and learn more about the current issues causing this volatility in the cattle and beef industries through the Intersection of the Cattle and Beef Industry webinar series. North Dakota State University Extension is co-hosting this series along with Texas A & M Agrilife Extension and West Virginia University.

This series is offered free of charge in an effort to provide an accurate, science- and evidence-based overview of the U.S. beef industry from conception to consumption. Offered in two hour sessions twice weekly, each session is recorded and available for review later by anyone who registers to participate. The series is set to run each Tuesday and Thursday through June 25, and begins each evening at 8 p.m. EDT.

An overview of MCOOL, Imports and Exports, Packer Profits, Local Meats, Protein Industry Euthanasia, and the Beef Check Off are just a few of the topics to be discussed. More details of each session, registration information, and links to past recordings may be found at https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/livestockextension/intersectionwebinars

In this 5 minute video Dr. Kenny Burdine discusses the cattle market as of May 11th, 2020 and the fact that we’re starting to see some increase in prices! Will they continue?

– Brenda Boetel, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin-River Falls

On April 28, 2020 President Trump invoked the Defense Protection Act to classify meat plants as essential infrastructure that must remain open.  This act does not mean that slaughter and fabrication will return to pre-COVID 19 levels in the short term as plants have had to slow production due to worker absenteeism as well as greater distancing between employees on the line. For the week ending May 2, slaughter is estimated at 425,000 head, down 8.6% from a week earlier and 36.8% from the same period in 2019. Similar to cattle slaughter, beef production is down an estimated 8.3% from the week ending April 11, 2020 and 22.8% from the same period in 2019.

Meanwhile, total commitment for beef exports totaled 426,673 metric tons, up 7.6% over the same period in 2019 and total fresh and processed beef imports are up just shy of 1% for the first quarter. There has been discussion between the differences in beef produced and packaged for food service compared to retail grocery, and this same principle applies to export beef. Closing off or limiting beef exports does not necessarily mean greater amounts of beef in US retail grocery stores, nor does limiting imports mean greater cattle prices. The reason is because beef exported is not the same beef imported. Even with beef production down, the importance of keeping export markets (and import markets) open is vital to Continue reading Beef Production and Imports →

– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

The logjam in cattle/beef packing caused by corona virus impacted employees has led to sharply reduced cattle slaughter. As companies and various government agencies respond, there is some evidence that the logjam loosened a little over the last week.

Estimated daily weekday fed steer and heifer slaughter bottomed out on April 28th and 29th at 50,000 head. That was down more than 40 percent compared to the 91-97,000 head per day at the end of March. Since the bottom, daily slaughter has been slowly creeping higher. It reached 56,000 on May 1st and 64,000 on May 7th. While certainly nowhere near back to pre-virus levels, which were elevated because of cyclically large cattle numbers, it does represent some improvement.

Saturday steer and heifer slaughter levels have not declined much at all during this time of plant slowdowns as have weekday processing. Typically Continue reading The Logjam Loosens a Little →

– Stan Smith, PA, OSU Extension, Fairfield County

When blended with our beef fat, imported lean beef trim increases the net value of U.S. fed cattle

Two weeks ago we discussed how COVID-19 has caused challenges for consumers and farmers alike regarding beef supply and demand. As consumers concern themselves with providing quality food for family members that are now eating more meals at home, cattlemen struggle with a backlog of finished cattle that packers can’t get harvested. That causes some to ask, “Why are we importing beef?”

At first glance it seems like a movement that resulted in American consumers eating only domestic beef would provide a simple and logical solution for both consumers and cattlemen. Under closer inspection, we find a move to no longer eat imported beef would mean our days of frequenting most fast food restaurants could be over, and the net value of our U.S. cattle would be even less. All the while, U.S. beef harvest capacity would remain at the mercy of COVID-19 and packing plant employee health.

The reality is both beef exports and imports are important economic Continue reading Why are we importing beef? →

– Garth Ruff, OSU Extension Henry County

COVID-19 has proven to be a catalyst for consumer demand for local product

Over the last decade the demand for locally raised meats have steadily increased and that demand has skyrocketed as of late, due to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal agriculture and the meat packing sector. With the significant increase of demand in local product we have also seen an increase in the number of producers entering the world of direct marketing. Perhaps the toughest aspect of direct marketing is determining how to set a price. In this article I am going to address that very subject and answer the question: What should I charge for a freezer beef?

There are a couple of ways that we could go about calculating a price but at the end of the day we must know two things: 1) your breakeven price; 2) how much money (profit) you want to make.

To determine a breakeven price, one must know Continue reading The Basics of Pricing Freezer Beef →

– Francis L. Fluharty, Professor and Head, Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia

The beef and pork industries are in a tremendously stressful period with Covid-19 causing temporary shut downs in several meat processing plants due to worker concerns over their health. This is having devastating short-term losses in all segments of the supply chain. I want to address a disturbing trend over the past few weeks where people claim that the current beef marketing system is completely broken, and that we need to go back to more small-scale packers and not import foreign lean beef. I support small-scale packers, and have worked with several. I’ve helped start regional branded beef programs that market to the non-implant, non-antibiotic marketplace, and I have family members who market the beef they raise through direct sales to customers. I’ve spent my career in support of family farms, and I own a small cow herd. What these experiences have given me is a perspective of the complexity of the beef industry, from the processing, distribution, restaurant and retail segments of the industry that most people working only in the cow-calf and feedlot sectors are never afforded the opportunity to see. In 2019, there were 3,236,800 cull cows, 3,271,700 dairy cows, 546,600 stags and bulls, and 26,500,200 fed steers and heifers harvested in the U.S.  (Source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/livestock-meat-domestic-data/livestock-meat-domestic-data/). That’s a total harvest of 33,555,300 head of cattle, and working 5 days per week for 52 weeks, that’s 645,294 per week or 129,059 per day. The message is that we’re a large industry, and the reality is that we rely on beef exports to boost the return per head of our cattle, and imports to meet the requirements of consumers for ground beef while simultaneously using Continue reading Thoughts Concerning the U.S. Beef Industry →