re: America’s Cattle Industry in Severe Crisis, Beef Prices Expected to Soar

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aren't more cattle ranches further eastward (Louisiana, southern Arky, MS, Bama, southern TN, etc). Is it something about the grass or soil?

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The availability of contiguous acreage to run larger herds combined with other crops that make the land more profitable...

I think FL is like 13th in cattle production and AL is like 17th...

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We have several farmers/ranchers with herds, and we simply buy a side of beef when they have cattle ready for slaughter.

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This is the way to do it if you cannot raise your own...

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Why can’t we just breed more since we already have cows here.

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Easier said than done. Our birth rates have been in the shitter because the herds are stressed from less water, excessive heat, and then we got hammered with a colder winter. It was hard to keep weight on the heffers to keep them healthy enough to birth and sustain the calfs. We've had to sell off more than we normally would just to trim down our herd size. This isn't a primary source of income for us and we really only do it to keep the family ranching tradition alive. So, we can be more flexible than most and have never tried to push the AU/acre limits but even taking an ultra conservative approach, we've struggled the past few years.

I buy ground Angus at $4.50/lb and a 1/4 or 1/2 at $4.00 on the hoof. Local angus, hormone and antibiotic free.

Dude pulls his angus embryos and puts them brahman heifers. Maximizes his angus heifer and the brahmans milk better.

Pretty high tech redneckin here in SE GA.

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By piling on regulations and costs, the government seems to be making it harder and pricier to raise cattle, nudging consumers to eat less beef.

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It almost looks intentional.

In Ville platte in 1998 a ribeye was around $5 a lb on the high side.

Now it’s $20 a lb at rouses in Lafayette.

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By piling on regulations and costs, the government seems to be making it harder and pricier to raise cattle, nudging consumers to eat less beef.

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It almost looks intentional.

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don't forget about the processing/distribution side too... looks like they are picking favorites there also. Which means bribes, kickbacks, and other forms of corruption that is rolling downhill.

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How much is the decline nationwide due to generally much higher land prices ( Florida land prices sky rocketing) making other uses more profitable?

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I think the bigger issue, at least what we see in WTX is generational turn over. A lot of successful ranchers, my wife and SIL included, were sent off to college and have little to no desire to move back to BFE and ranch. They went off and got an education and moved to a city to start a family and life. There just isn't as much passing down the ranching operations to kids as there used to be. That's opened the door for families looking to monetize their property for other revenue streams. We've focused on both keeping ranching ops ongoing and looking at other revenue streams but it's a lot of work and basically my wife's full time job. I can see why plenty of people will just take a check from a developer and move on with life. Managing grazing tenants or your own operations isn't easy, then you throw on hunting leases, energy (O&G, wind, solar, pipelines, bitcoin mining, etc) and if it's not something you have the skill set or desire to do you just let it go to the easiest path that will give you some cash.

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Honestly it wouldn’t hurt if we shifted to more of a plant based diet, and not even for environmental reasons.

Beef (any red meat) routinely causes hypertension and inflammation, which leads to other health issues.

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I can't imagine leading a life of denying myself the good things in life, only so I can spend the last 25 years shitting myself because I'm nuttier than squirrel shite. I'll eat steak and drink bourbon until I die, the way God intended.