Latest News From Beef

The Meat Institute said properly prepared beef remains safe to eat and called for USDA and the CDC to provide worker safety guidance specific to beef processors to ensure workers are protected from infection.

A lone juror stood between rancher George Kelly and innocent. “It is what it is, and it will be what it will be. Let me go home, okay?”

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced it’s canceling the July Cattle Inventory Report. In the announcement, NASS blamed budget cuts from the most recent appropriations bills. 

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants can donate emergency grazing authority to ranchers in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas impacted by recent wildfires.

Firefighters were dispatched to National Beef's 6,000-head per day facility in Liberal, Kansas, Wednesday evening.

The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City will honor the late Cliff Becker and Dr. Scott Brown with the group’s prestigious Jay B. Dillingham Award for Agricultural Leadership and Excellence.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension photographer Sam Craft was in the Texas Panhandle documenting the aftermath of the largest wildfire in Texas history, and the aid and support for fire victims.

Meat and poultry industry trade groups were quick to criticize USDA's announcement of changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act claiming the changes add unnecessary regulations and costs.

After burning for more than six days, the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma was only 15% contained Sunday morning. Drifting sand now poses a threat to rural roads.

Nebraska officials say a mower ignited a wildfire that burned roughly 110 square miles of central Nebraska grasslands.

While the Smokehouse Creek Fire rapidly became the state's largest in history, four other wildfires are burning in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle area. (Additional images contained in story.)

Donations of hay, feed, fence supplies, cow feed and milk replacer are needed to support livestock owners impacted by the wildfires that have scorched ranchland across a large portion of the Texas Panhandle.

Devastating wildfires are burning in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle region and the Smokehouse Creek Fire has already become the second largest in Texas history, consuming at least three-quarters of a million acres.

Cattle producers are coming off a year of record prices in 2023 but what is the outlook for the coming year?

The January 1, 2024, beef cow herd inventory was 28.22 million head, down 2.5 percent year over year and a decrease of 3.47 million head or 10.9 percent lower, from the cyclical peak in 2019.

Oklahoma State's Derrell Peel points out with the U.S. beef cow herd the smallest since 1961 and the all cattle inventory the lowest since 1951, it’s setting the cattle market up for higher highs.

The U.S. cattle report shows all cattle and calves reported at 87.2 million head, 2% below the 88.8 million last year.

Ag tech startup MyAnIML and USDA find first-of-its-kind facial recognition technology successfully analyzes cattle muzzles to predict illness.

While estimates suggest that black vultures are responsible for the loss of thousands of calves every year, as a protected species, the bird may not be killed without a permit.

With another round of frigid temperatures blanketing the U.S. again, what's behind the cold? Here's a hint: it's not El Niño.

From 40 degrees above zero earlier this week in parts of the Great Plains to now forecasts for temps to fall 40 degrees below zero, ag meteorologist Drew Lerner says the frigid conditions will be dangerous for livestock.

CattleFax invites producers to participate in its annual Cow-Calf Survey, which provides participants and the rest of the industry with valuable data regarding industry benchmarks and trends.

Removal of the 84 turbines erected beginning 10 years ago without a mining permit from the Osage Nation ends a long legal battle and will cost the developers $300 million.

Oklahoma National Stockyards' owners and nearby businesses fear their livelihood could be infringed if Oklahoma County commissioners seek to use imminent domain to acquire land for the county's new jail site.

After Texas renovated a highway, Richie DeVillier’s ranch experienced catastrophic flooding that destroyed his crops and killed his cattle. A seven-year legal battle ensued, which now heads to the Supreme Court.

Cliff Becker, Vice President of New Campus Development for the American Royal, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, December 30th while visiting family in California.

The Grinch is writing closeouts ahead of the holidays as cattle and hog profit margins tumble to their lowest point since the summer of 2020, just months into the COVID pandemic.

Both dynamic and resilient, the animal protein sector is likely heading into another challenging year. However, it’s important to identify potential opportunities that could help your operation survive or even thrive.

The future home of the American Royal moves forward on facility to “create a food and agriculture innovation district that will be unlike any other in the world,” said Kansas Governor Laura Kelly.

A large contract foodservice company claims the nation's largest beef packers conspired to fix prices and drive up profit margins from 2015 through 2021.

Authorities first became aware of the incident when a man called 911 reporting his son was shooting at him. Dispatchers also received a call that livestock were running loose and there was a fire on the property.

A team at K-State has been chosen by the World Organisation of Animal Health to lead an international effort that will develop decision-making tools and improve communication on the economic impacts of animal diseases.

Cattle feeding margins improved modestly last week after cash bids rallied nearly $2 higher. Pork producer margins remain in red.

Price-fixing allegations were again levied against America's largest beef packing companies, this time by a group of small distributors.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Jesse Larios, a California cattle farmer, shares about his deep roots in agriculture and the contributions his Latino and Latina brothers and sisters have made in the industry.

Outside factors pressured cattle markets through most of the past week before futures and wholesale beef prices rebounded on Friday. Market fundamentals remain positive for cattle going forward.

Packers applied the brakes and cattle slaughter declined another 13,000 head last week and capacity utilization dipped 9%. Pork producer margins print $7 in the red.

Working off a big trade the previous week and slowed production, packers were reluctant to purchase cattle but the futures market took a dip and buyers stepped in at steady money and gathered inventory. 

Cattle futures posted weekly losses including a technically bearish weekly low close in December live cattle. Cash markets were weaker, but strong cash fundamental remain in place.

Less than 5% of new grads choose rural food animal practice. That needs to change to protect the U.S. food supply and public health. Contacting legislators is one way farmers and ranchers can weigh in and help.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming rejected a proposal on Wednesday that would have barred USDA from operating commodity checkoff programs.

Despite recent drought challenges, U.S. cattle producers remain optimistic and committed. Poised for growth and adaptation, producers seek understanding in consumer expectations and the complex marketplace.

Eight beef packing projects are in various stages of completion that could add 10% to total industry capacity; is it needed? What potential headwinds might these ventures face?

Missouri soils unlocked a ‘golden’ antibiotic 75 years ago that’s still used in livestock today.

Dry conditions persist across parts of the U.S., with nearly half of the nation’s corn crop and 37% of the nation’s hay crop areas experiencing drought. Cattle producers could be forced to make more tough decisions.

Sound management decisions that will impact future profit potential is based on facts arrived at through mathematical analysis. Decisions based on emotions and/or tradition seldom lead to success. 

A Sept. 8 Farmer-Led Field Day in Nebraska will explore drought management strategies for moisture retention, tips for integrating cattle into row crop operations, and polycropping systems with area producers.

Rancher doesn’t know whether it was rustler’s remorse or publicity that gave the bandits cold feet about trying to sell the sheep that prompted their return.

A federal judge in Minnesota dismissed the claims filed by a putative class of cattle ranchers in a long-running case that alleged an industry-wide scheme to fix prices.

The popular show has now raised almost $5.5 million for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa since the event’s inception in 1983.