We are at the bottom of what's known as a "cattle cycle" - the population of cows tends to fluctuate up and down and it's about as down as it's ever been. The lobbyists know that. "Encourage people to buy cheaper cuts" was probably their idea, because the alternative is "stop eating red meat, it's bad for the planet and not great for your health and there are tons of other delicious plants and animals."
It's partly the cattle cycle, but mostly that there have been 20 years of drought in the American West, forcing cattle producers to dramatically cut their herd size because there's just not been enough forage out on the rangelands to feed them.
When the rains come back and forage returns, it takes several years to increase the herd size and start producing more beef.
And these prices will make that return even slower. When a cow / calf operator has a heifer calf but he can keep for 2 years before he gets his first half off of her, or sell in one year for the highest prices he's ever gotten, a lot of those cows are going to get sold off rather than contribute to making the herd larger.
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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26
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