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beef cattle

  • The drought that affected much of the country in 2023 is still impacting the beef cattle herd, the U.S. House passes a bill that will allow whole, reduced fat and other milk varieties back into school cafeterias, and the average age of farmworkers in the Great Plains and upper Midwest is rising at a much faster rate than in the rest of the country.
  • The USDA declares that 2023’s U.S. corn production was the largest on record, a billion-dollar wind and hail weather disaster hits the southern Plains, farmers remain optimistic despite concerns over input costs, and beef cattle continue to be big business in Colorado and across the country.
  • Arizona governor Katie Hobbs terminates state groundwater leases for a Saudi Arabian-owned farm, cow-calf producers in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Texas will have the opportunity to sign up for a new insurance option, and cattle producers are seeing a tremendous uptrend in prices so far in 2023.
  • A new cattle inventory report estimates the total inventory is down almost 3% from a year ago, the USDA announces that food price inflation for 2023 will be slightly lower than last year, the U.S. Senate votes to prohibit China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran from purchasing U.S. agricultural land and agricultural businesses, wolf reintroduction in western Colorado concerns neighboring states, and scientists express concerns about neonicotinoids’ environmental harm and effects on human health.
  • Drought in the Southwest sees big improvement, farmland prices remain stagnant, and cattle producers are optimistic about building herds back after recent setbacks.
  • The beginning of the 2023 water year is off to a good start, reservoirs in the southwest will see some filling but may still be below average this year, calving season has been rough due to cold and wet spring weather, farm bankruptcies are going down, and census data show that the nation’s rural population grew slightly last year.
  • The average length of a growing season in the United States is getting longer, a survey of young farmers finds that 93% have never used a USDA program, beef production is decreasing in 2023, changes to livestock grazing on public lands could be on the way, and Congress acts to ban Chinese ownership of U.S. farm ground.
  • Controversy over atmospheric methane contribution from cattle continues, consumer groups petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop livestock producers from administering antibiotics, beef cattle producers may see rewards from higher prices this year, and while local farmers and ranchers are happy to see the snow, drought remains a big problem overall.
  • The Trump era trade war impact on the U.S. agricultural economy, what a world population of 8 billion means for food production and distribution, how cattle are being used to create fire breaks to assist in wildfire fighting, and why lettuce growers in the southwest are harvesting lettuce a little early this year.
  • A look at food price increases over the past year, the factors behind increased retail prices for beef, the Food and Drug Administration will now require a veterinary prescription for injected antibiotics for livestock, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature adds the monarch butterfly to its “red list” of threatened species.