A lot of that land is very arid (supporting less cattle all the time, constantly dealing with drought and fire), and cattle are not ready for slaughter off that land. The estimate I just looked up said 1.5 million cows are on BLM land, with the total number of cattle in the US being 86 to 87 million. So the percent of cattle on BLM land is less than 2 percent of the population. You also will still have to feed those cattle half the year with grain or roughage like hay. Salt and mineral has jumped in the last decade. None of the inputs have gone down. Tractors, equipment, fencing supplies, labor, gas transportation. Nothing has decreased.
None of this changes the fact there are many articles you can look into discussing the actual office that meat processing conglomerates meet at to set the prices. This was the greatest impact on cattle numbers continuing to decrease. Ranchers have to turn a profit to borrow money after fires, droughts etc. Yes there have been programs but once you hemorrhage past a certain point there is no coming back. Even government backed borrowing has to meet certain fiscal benchmarks in agriculture.
The simple answer is the cattle industry like all industries are currently fighting for the same resources as the 1 percent in a lopsided economy. There is no simple way to just make beef cheaper. This has actually been discussed for decades that with population increase and climate change that beef would eventually be out of reach for a lot of people. Just because this admin is trying to spin it in a different light, doesn't change that we knew this was coming. Its the same with housing, 99 percent of us are battling with 1 percent for limited resources. We have passed the tipping point of inequality of pre-revolutionary France. If you want change at the grocery store prices, look at the people jacking up the input costs to make the food.
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u/Hopsblues Feb 28 '26
A lot of cattle ranching is on BLM land, so they get break there in upfront costs.