US Cattle Industry Told to Modify Market Strategy

US - The U.S. cattle industry must abandon business as usual and develop new marketing strategies if it hopes to prosper as the cost of raising cattle increases and the domestic herd shrinks, an industry official told cattlemen on Wednesday.

7 February 2008

1 minute read

North America

"We cannot continue to do business the way we have been doing it," Randy Blach, executive vice president of industry research firm Cattle-Fax, said in an address to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association annual convention in Reno, Nevada.

The NCBA is the nation's largest cattle industry trade group. Its members have watched the cattle herd shrink because of higher land and feed prices, fewer young producers entering the business, and severe drought, first in the southwest United States and later in the Southeast.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week reported the U.S. cattle herd at 96.67 million head, down slightly from 97.003 million a year earlier. Of particular interest was the calf supply, which USDA reported at 37.361 million head, the smallest since 1951.

Source: Reuters