Beef markets reach new highs on tight supplies, strong demand

The combination of drought and record-low cattle numbers are two of the factors carrying the beef market to all-time highs. “We’ve never been in these kinds of record setting high prices,” said one analyst. On April 14, live cattle futures surpassed the $250 mark – which is an all-time high – driven by a $250 cash trade and the 75-year low in cattle inventories. Part of that picture is the closure of the Mexican border due to New World Screwworm. That’s a devastating pest that USDA officials have been trying to keep out of the country through a variety of means, including closing the border to Mexican cattle. On average, the United States imported 1.1 to 1.2 million head of cattle – mostly feeder steers and spayed heifers – per year. In 2023 and 2024, there were even more, at 1.25 million head imported each of those years. The border closure, due to the threat of the NWS, has meant a shortage of feeder cattle that normally would be fed in U.S. feedlots in the South and Southwest ...