Starting the herd rebuilding clock

The story of what will happen in the beef cattle industry has been clear for some time. Drought-forced beef cow herd liquidation has made the beef industry smaller than it needs or planned to be. There will be strong market incentives to rebuild herd inventories when it is possible to do so. Recent improvement in remaining drought regions in the central and southern Great Plains likely means that herd liquidation is ending. Residual drought remains a risk and drought could redevelop but the arrival of El Niño likely means that additional drought impacts will be minimal. Nevertheless,…