There can be little doubt that the biggest issue in the cattle industry right now is the question of when herd rebuilding will begin. The challenge of herd rebuilding can be summed up with the following three questions.
What do we need to do?
Drought-forced herd liquidation due to roving drought from 2020-2022 has pushed the beef herd smaller than intended and smaller than it needs to be. The January 1 beef cow herd at 28.9 million head, is the smallest since 1962. The beef cow herd has continued to decrease in 2023 and will be smaller yet going into 2024.
Domestic and international…
