2023 for the cow-calf guy was one of the best years they have seen in the industry. To put it in perspective, Thad Tharp with Tri-County Cattlemen explains the cost of buying calves in February 2024 doubled when compared to February 2023.
“A cow-calf guy, the feeder, the finisher, never made more money in their lives than they did in 2023; ‘23 was one of the best years the beef industry ever had.”
Tharp adds that in 2024, the beef industry is still ‘going good’. He says packer margins have held up despite ‘living on the edge’ of the market. Going into the fall, the cull cow run and grind market is what is helping maintain the strength of the beef market in 2024.
“In a traditional year, you might get 40 to 60 cents for that cow. They’ve been paying $1.20 to $1.30 all summer long because the grind is what’s driving the price of beef; the retail cuts, the rib eye, the sirloin, those things have backed off a little bit in the retail shelf over the summer. But it’s the 80/20 grind really maintaining the strength in the beef along with the supply,” says Tharp. “We have lower cow numbers than we’ve had since the 1940s and our weaning weights are going up, our kill weights are going up. So we’re producing roughly the same amount of beef with far fewer cows than we’ve had in 80 years.”
But, this won’t always be the case, notes Tharp.
“Eventually that’s going to come to pass. We are high in the beef market right now, but the supply is decreasing every day.”
Beef on dairy also plays an important role in the beef industry. In parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Tharp says around 50 percent of the cattle on feed going to the packers are a dairy-based breed, and over 60 percent of beef semen in an artificial insemination program is used in the dairy industry.
Hear more from Tharp from the 2024 FS Fall Ag Roundtable:
