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Intense droughts are raising beef prices

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Retail beef prices are at a record high, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), due to low cattle supply and high input costs.

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Cobank data reveals that beef cow slaughter was higher by 11% year-on-year in 2022 3.95 million cows slaughtered, the highest since 1996.

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Wells Fargo’s Chief Agricultural Economist Michael Swanson warns that this will mean "paying more for all beef products for several more years."

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Cattle have reduced to the "smallest number in decades" because of drought in states like Texas and Kansas.

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Usually, ranchers raise calves and sell them to a feedlot where they are fed, fattened, and sold to meatpacking companies. Retailers then buy the meat.

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But now ranchers are retaining cows to rebuild the herd. This has resulted in a lower cattle supply for beef production and adds to input costs, such as  labor.

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The second half of 2023 will see a beef production decline of 180 million pounds from Aug. 2023, according to a Sept. livestock report.

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The weather and poor forage conditions have also led to the slaughter of reproductive cows since 2020 because rearers couldn't keep them over the winter.

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