Recent record prices paid for fed cattle, feeder cattle, and cull cows and bulls have a lot of industry folks talking and thinking we are at the bottom of the “10-year cattle cycle” and that we could see expansion in the future.

I felt I needed to discuss the role a small producer plays in the beef industry’s economic impact, both directly and indirectly, in shaping the future of the beef business and the industries that support it – and, maybe more importantly, how the...

In the early 1980s, producers who raised Herefords and other breeds with red hides were hit with a significant discount at feedyards and sale barns.