The national cattle herd sits at a multi-decade low and demand is the strongest in forty years. What's missing is heifer retention — which is why analysts keep pushing real expansion out another year.
Tyler Gordon · just now
Eighty-five cattle herds confirmed this year, fresh poultry outbreaks in South Dakota, and a virus that has been circulating in U.S. dairy cows since March 2024. The biosecurity conversation is not over.
Tyler Gordon · just now
Nearly 60% of the Lower 48 is in drought as of September 1. In Wyoming three-quarters of pasture and rangeland is rated poor or very poor — roughly double the five-year average.
Tyler Gordon · just now
USDA reopened the Douglas, Arizona port to Mexican cattle in late August, the first step in a phased reopening. For feeders it means supply. For cow-calf operators enjoying record prices, it means competition.
Tyler Gordon · just now
South Dakota pasture values rose nearly 16 percent even as the drought footprint doubled. Nebraska alfalfa is up $10 to $20, Wyoming baled hay up to $30. A state-by-state look at what feed is costing going into fall.
Tyler Gordon · 12h ago
Rural suicide rates run about 1.5 times urban. Three years of thin crop margins, a credit picture that is starting to crack, and a 75-year-low cowherd with a tariff headline on top. Who to call, what to say to a neighbor, and what the farm bill is doing about it.
14h ago
A late-August rally built on falling crop ratings and Black Sea shipping trouble has the trade looking for USDA to cut the corn yield below 180 on September 11. Cattle feeders are watching the same report from the other side.
Tyler Gordon · 1d ago
USDA wants the herd rebuilt. The market is paying you not to. A worked example of what a retained heifer has to be worth in 2028 to beat selling her in October 2026, and the three things that decide it.
Tyler Gordon · 1d ago
Detections climb every fall as wild waterfowl migrate. Indiana has already logged 20 infected flocks this year, and Europe found the first antibody-positive dairy cow outside the U.S. What to tighten before the ponds fill up.
1d ago