At no time in the history of livestock agriculture have producers been more efficient at producing beef than they are now. Just in the last half-century, global beef production has nearly doubled, despite a historically small herd size.

Through the first half of 2024, it looked like the U.S. might be climbing out of the drought that has plagued big chunks of the country for the last half-decade. The El Nino the ag world had been waiting for was finally here. And then, it wasn’t.

As we prepare to build back the U.S. beef herd and reduce the diseases threatening U.S. beef production, farmers and ranchers should consider how to protect their animals and operations before it is too late.

With the cattle herd is at an all-time low, we are all wondering when herd rebuilding will begin and how long this cattle cycle will last. In the past six years, 8 million head of cattle have left the herd. Even with mass liquidation, beef production continues to grow, said Kevin Good, CattleFax analyst, at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) CattleCon 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.

The NCBA lobbying team told those in attendance at NCBA’s CattleCon that better days lie ahead for beef producers with President Donald Trump.

The second annual Manitoba Beef and Forage Conference was held on Oct. 31, 2024, in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Producers heard from industry experts about applying current research to their own operations. Of the various topics shared, here are three top takeaways.

Efficient. Sustainable. Profitable. Productive. Economical. They feel like buzzwords, yet they’ve maintained their lofty position in the cattle industry zeitgeist for long enough now that it’s impossible to shy away from the inevitability – and even merit – of defining and reaching for such ideals.

Just days after fires moved across the Texas Panhandle, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) hosted the 2024 Cattle Raisers Convention and Expo on March 22-23 in Fort Worth, Texas.

It’s no secret that the cow herd is at an all-time low. As producers start to build herds back, creating and maintaining a herd health plan will be immensely important.