Lance Zimmerman, senior beef analyst for Rabo AgriFinance, reminds cattle producers that even after the rains return and the drought eases up in cattle country, rebuilding beef cow herd numbers isn’t going to happen overnight.
U.S. cattle producers have seen this cycle before — in 2014 to 2016, following the droughts of 2012 — but this time is different, he says.
“First, we culled 13.5% of the beef cow herd, and the prior record was 12.5%,” Zimmerman says. The USDA’s cattle inventory report Jan. 1 reflected a four-year decline in…
