Beef Prices Still Have Room to Moo-ve

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 increases may also drag along at a very ranch-appropriate pace.

Why the herd waits: Expansion is not as simple as saving heifers and calling it a day. Drought, higher input costs, interest rates, tariffs, trade volatility, screwworm and other pests are all crowding the pasture. Recent coverage noted that 2027 cattle prices could go even higher, with forecasts reaching $250 to $256 per hundredweight.

Retail reality: The consumer side is feeling it too. Beef prices have already become a dinner-table headline, and even restaurant operators are watching the same cattle cycle work its way through the supply chain. Rising brisket prices are not just a grill-season nuisance. They are the slow-motion result of a smaller herd, expensive borrowing and producers being cautious about rebuilding too fast.

Why it matters: High prices can help ranchers, but rebuilding the herd takes cash, grass, time and a tolerance for risk. Producers have tools for the math, but the market still has plenty of ways to kick the gate open.