Lowering Beef Prices

The following appeared in a post in the Facebook group Nebraska Against Government Overreach on October 28, 2025.

By George Jenkins

Over the last 4 days, 500lb calves have dropped $1 per pound. That’s a $500 loss per calf. Imagine if you have 20, 50, 100 or even a 1000 head consigned yesterday or anytime this week.  That drop cost ranchers over 1Billion, yes Billion with a B, yesterday 10/27 in sales nationwide. Ranchers work 364 days a year to get paid on the 365th day. That’s it, one paycheck a year. How many people are willing to risk everything on a future paycheck? Work thru the blizzards, the droughts , death loss, high taxes, the day to day expenses life throws at you that you really can’t plan for, all to “hope or bank on”  a future paycheck that will cover accured expenses and have a little left over to give it ago for another year.

And after the dust settles, the very next day it starts all over again, banking on a paycheck 364 days into the future, with no idea what the future holds for them
                                                                                   Calf prices have slowly trended upward over the last 2 years with this year being really good . This had nothing to do with Trump and tarriffs as he claimed in his tweet. It’s had to do with supply and demand. Herds haven’t increased over the last several years even with the better prices as a lot were just trying to catch up with back expenses from years of barely breaking even if at all. Last year with the droughts in Oklahoma and Texas, i remember seeing a picture of a line of trucks and trailers over a mile long waiting to unload at the OKC sale barn. Several times they sold 12-15,000 head at the weekly sale. I imagine the majority of these cattle went to the killer for hamburger as most ranchers in the country didn’t have resources to expand and absorb them or even wanted to with the uncertainty of the cattle market.

Another thing that i’ve pointed out more than once, over the last 4 years, the obiden cartel allowed somewhere around 10-20 million illegals into our country that were given a $5000 visa card upon entering and most allowed to apply and stay on food stamps at the good ole US taxpayers dime. Free money entitles you to eat a lot of good American beef. Our food industry was not prepared to handle that much demand in a short time.

With a cartel of only 4 beef packers that are 85% owned by foreign interest, prices at the super market have slowly been increasing for years.  I posted an article earlier today explaining how “they” control beef prices you pay, not the rancher.

So before you bad mouth the rancher blaming him for prices your paying on the best tasting, mouth watering beef produced in the world today, walk a few miles in his shoes. Spend 60 days in Feb and March helping him calve, and that’s 24 hrs a day no matter what mother nature is throwing at you. Spend a summer fixing fence, putting up hay, and doing a 100 other daily chores even if it’s 110 degrees out.  99% couldn’t even begin to handle it. Actually that’s pretty much correct, 1 1/2% of the US population, is feeding the other 98 1/2% 

The cattle market will work itself out if the government stays out of it. There’s no more cattle today than last week. Trump needs to STHU and quit trying to take credit for something he had nothing to do with, except cost a lot of ranchers a lot of money in the last several days. All from an ignorant tweet. I’d like him to try to explain to a rancher, why they should make less money. This from a person who has never probably had a callous on his hand, unless you can get one from swinging a golf club. Yes i voted for him and would again if circumstances were the same, but facts are facts.

Imported beef will not lower consumer prices. Re-enacting the MCOOL act will protect the American rancher and American consumer while giving people a cheaper purchase option if more imports are brought in.  Opening up federal lands to ranchers for grazing will help increase herds, which will help with the supply and demand. Way too much land has been taken away by the federal government that our ranchers need.

Break up the monopoly of packers. Make it easier for local beef plants to open up for business. Provide tax credits for ranchers to retain heifers to increase herds. Figure out plans to help young adults to get into the ranching before it’s gobbled up by big corporations that will then control the food you eat from beginning to the end to your plate. The average age of a farmer/rancher is 58.1 yrs old. Not a good number. We need incentives for the younger generation.