Livestock

The federal beef yield grade system is having a midlife crisis, except it is 60 years old and still grading carcasses like the cattle never discovered feed efficiency, bigger frames or the modern urge to become a couch with hooves. The wrinkle: Feeders are sending increasingly fatter cattle to slaughter after longer days on feed, chasing pounds in a market where beef still has more pricing power than a county fair lemonade stand. Dale Woerner, Texas Tech University meat scien

Washington is trying to rebuild the cattle herd, which is adorable because cows still insist on using biology instead of a policy memo. Herd help: The new Ranchers First Initiative gives producers a few more tools to keep females in the pasture instead of sending the future to town. The package includes a Beef Retention and National Development endorsement, letting producers insure the economic value of breeding over a two-year period through livestock risk protection. Grass

Cows have officially entered their wearable-tech era, and somehow the Apple Watch still does not track cud. Strap in: ZELP commercially released ZELP Sense, a device designed to measure methane and carbon dioxide from individual cattle in real farm settings. The system sits near the nostrils, ships data through automated transfer and reports emissions through an app, because apparently even burps need a dashboard now. The point: The company says the wearable has gone through

Meat case math: President Donald Trump wants cheaper ground beef, so Washington is reaching for the oldest trick in the pantry: more supply, now served with a generous helping of “don’t ask where it came from.” The plan would let up to 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings enter the U.S. for 90 days without the out-of-quota tariff, tied to a promised 25% discount. The sizzle: Consumers are still staring down record-high beef prices, and the U.S. herd is sitting near a 75

Top Gun may need more room to buzz the desert, but Nevada ranchers say the expansion is taking a bite out of the ground that keeps their cattle business alive. The fence line: The Fallon Range Training Complex expansion is moving forward after Congress approved a major modernization that adds land ranges, airspace changes and infrastructure upgrades. The Navy says the Bravo ranges and Dixie Valley Training Area were too cramped for realistic training. Ranchers hear that and m

The beef packing business is starting to look like musical chairs, except the chairs are giant plants and nobody wants to be the cow standing when the song stops. The squeeze: Beef packing has been concentrated for decades, with the four largest firms handling most steer and heifer purchases. That structure can make plants efficient, but it also means any capacity shuffle lands loudly in cattle country. Fewer bidders is not exactly the kind of auction energy producers dream a

The Pacific is warming up its plot twist, and agriculture gets to do what it always does: make plans while the weather laughs softly in the background. Forecast fence: The latest ocean temperatures have forecasters watching a potentially historic El Niño, with one outlook putting a 69% chance on an exceptional event later this year. That does not mean every field gets the same treatment. Weather loves nothing more than making regional maps look like spilled salsa. Global shuf

How it starts: A huge generational land transfer is already underway, with aging landowners, heirs, trusts, LLCs and non-operating landlords turning farmland succession into a very expensive family group project. By the acres: More than 2 million landowners rented out 348 million acres of farmland in 2024, and 79% of those rented acres were owned by non-farming landlords. USDA also says about 43 million acres are expected to transfer ownership within five years, before wills

The beef business is doing that thing where the steak is expensive, the packers are losing money and everyone involved looks equally annoyed. Plant math: Tyson is closing its Joslin, Illinois, beef plant and looking to sell its Pasco, Washington, facility as the cattle supply stays painfully tight. Joslin employs more than 2,300 people, which makes this more than just a spreadsheet with bad vibes. Not a one-off: This follows the company’s earlier Lexington, Nebraska, closure,

Cattle prices may not have hit the ceiling yet, which is welcome news for sellers and less charming news for anyone who enjoys buying brisket without first checking their credit score. By the numbers: David Anderson, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension livestock marketing economist and professor, said smaller cattle supplies and continued beef demand could keep prices moving higher. At the recent short course, he pointed to slow herd rebuilding as the reason beef production i

Texas cattle country has a new neighbor at the fence line: the cloud, which apparently also wants water, electricity and a whole lot of land. Server pasture: At the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course, ranchland experts warned that data centers are becoming a bigger topic as rural land gets eyed for digital infrastructure. Texas already loses about 1,000 acres of farm, ranch and forest land each day, and servers do not exactly graze gently. Resource roundup: The concern is not

Label herd: USDA’s Product of USA label keeps adding names to the chute. Six more meat and poultry companies joined the voluntary program, giving the origin-labeling fight a fresh news peg and a little more sizzle in the meat case. Fine print: Under the updated rule, companies can use the claim only when animals are born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. That closes the old loophole where imported meat could pick up a U.S. label after processing here. V

River rules: The federal government released its post-2026 framework for managing the Colorado River, which is a fancy way of saying the West still has to decide who gets less water and how loudly everyone gets to object. The proposal could trigger drought-related cuts for Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico through 2036. By the bucket: The process would replace expiring rules for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Instead of one forever plan, the government is looking at operatin

A couple hundred miles from the nearest big livestock headline, the sale barn is doing exactly what sale barns do best: getting loud, getting dusty and quietly telling you where demand is headed next. Bleat market: Demand for goats and sheep has moved well past the “somebody’s side project” stage. Buyers are showing up with real interest, and small producers are finding that animals once treated like pasture extras can bring serious receipts. The pull is coming from immigrant

Border line dance: U.S. cattle trade with Mexico is getting a careful restart, emphasis on careful. The Douglas, Arizona, port is slated to reopen Aug. 24, with Santa Teresa and Columbus in New Mexico under later evaluation. Every animal crossing gets a full inspection for New World screwworm. The catch: The move depends on Mexico continuing to meet a joint control plan, with northern states treated as lower risk. Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, framed the m

Hog wild: USDA is putting $35M on the table to help partners fight feral swine, which sounds like an expensive pest-control bill until you remember the pigs have been treating fields, forests and fences like an all-you-can-root buffet. The big pen: The money is part of a broader $105M effort through the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. NRCS and APHIS are teaming up on targeted projects, landowner support and damage reduction. By the numbers: Earlier pilot wo

Property plot twist: Pennsylvania’s high court just told game wardens the countryside is not a public hallway with trees. The case involved two hunting clubs that had posted signs, purple paint, gates and fences, yet officers still entered without consent, a warrant or probable cause. Cameras were even part of the mix, because apparently the woods needed a reality show nobody ordered. The legal fence line: The unanimous ruling said officials generally need a warrant or a reco

Brush buffet: California has leaned on goat grazing to chew down wildfire fuel in places where machines are expensive, awkward or allergic to hillsides. The goats eat brush, reduce flashy fuels and look smug while doing it. But a wage-rule mess is threatening the herders who keep those mobile salad bars moving, and the math is starting to look like a payroll ambush. The wage jaw-drop: After a temporary fix expired July 1, goat herders no longer fit under the same alternative

Chemical whiplash: Bayer’s Ruveon unit is backing away from petitions that sought antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese glyphosate imports, which means farmers can briefly close one input-cost panic tab. The petitions asked federal officials to investigate imports and potentially layer duties onto a product many growers still use like duct tape for weeds. The withdrawal followed farm group pushback. Sticker shock avoided: The original request landed at a delicate t

Reservoir reality: Lake Powell is flirting with critically low water levels, which is not the kind of flirting anyone in the Colorado River Basin requested. Recent coverage says the reservoir is nearing levels that put Glen Canyon Dam hydropower at risk, with the Washington Post warning that the system is again entering a serious water crisis. At this point, the river basin’s group chat is just lawyers, hydrologists and people asking whether snowpack has tried harder. The ag