The U.S. cattle herd is shrinking, boosting prices for producers, but causing concerns down the line.
Oklahoma state ag economist, Dr. Darrell Peel, says that the beef industry has been cyclical for 150 years, but that pattern may be changing in 2025.
“If you’re following it at all, you know that we’ve got record-high cattle prices across the board for all kinds of cattle. We’ve got record-high beef prices at the wholesale and retail levels, and so there’s lots of supply-driven fundamentals here that are really driving the market. We’ve had an incredible beef demand to match that, which is why we can maintain these record-high prices at the consumer level, but there’s also lots of challenges along the way.”
Those challenges, Dr. Peel says, start to show up at the processor level.
“Everybody is really caught in this, in this challenging, sort of adverse, buy-sell margin because of the supply-driven price increases from the bottom up in terms of animal production. And so, that’s the environment that everybody’s in right now, and you know, again, without getting into too much of the detail, the bottom line is it’s going to be a while— this is not going to be a fast process.”
With herd expansion yet to really begin, he predicts that we will stay in a high price environment for the rest of the decade.
Rising import pressure and tougher export competition are likely to persist into 2026, supporting domestic supplies while capping export growth.
January 26, 2026 09:56 AM
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The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council published a joint press release regarding the advancement of legislation to delist the Mexican Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species Act.
January 23, 2026 05:05 PM
Placements and marketings beat expectations, but declining on-feed totals and feeder constraints keep the supply story supportive for cattle prices into 2026. Dr. Derrell Peel, with Oklahoma State University, joined us to break down cattle-on-feed numbers and provide his broader market outlook.
January 23, 2026 04:40 PM
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USDA Rural Development Director for Kentucky, Travis Burton, joined us to discuss the Princeton facility (formerly Porter Road Meats), now backed by the USDA, and its role in expanding domestic meat processing capacity.
January 23, 2026 03:39 PM
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Nearly everyone in the South Texas ag community appears extremely worried about the potential of a New World screwworm epidemic, according to a local veterinarian. RFD NEWS Correspondent Frank McCaffrey reports.
January 23, 2026 11:56 AM
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Brian Earnest, an animal protein economist with CoBank, shares insights into current demand trends and the challenges facing broiler production.
January 22, 2026 06:34 PM
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