Shrinking Cattle Herds

Where is the Beef?

Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio Show #1427

Given a choice, would you opt for grass fed, or grain fed?

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Guest: Will Harris, Farmer & Rancher, White Oak Pastures, author, Giving a Damn: A Bold Return to Giving A Damn

Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – The Shrinking Cattle Herd – Where is the beef?

There is a lot of grass growing in America the Beautiful, and that grass could feed a lot of cattle. That it is not feeding enough, leads us to ask: Where’s the beef?

Topics include why the USA must import beef from elsewhere; how the nation’s beef food chain is restricted for the control of it; and how the nation’s beef food chain might be improved to provide higher quality meat at less expense to consumers.

There is a lot of grass growing here in the United States. According to the Great American Grazing Lands report, there are 654 million acres of land that could support an abundance of grazing cattle. Yet, it is not!

In fact, America’s cattle herd has declined for three years in a row, and is now at its lowest level since 1951. And with the herd’s heifer retention rate plummeting, the shortage will most certainly get worse, much worse.

As a consequence of the shrinking herd, the cost for our beef is growing, and it is going to keep growing. The USA has the grass, but is losing its herd, and so we ask:  Where is the beef?

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Michael Olson’s Three Laws of the Food Chain

#1 Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sand castles.

#2 The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in that food.

#3 Cheap food isn’t!       READ MORE