Declining grazing land conditions and an on-going drought in parts of the country could speed up beef cow herd liquidation, according to a livestock marketing and risk management economist.
Elliot Dennis with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says Western and Pacific states are being the hardest hit. “It really depends on where we’re at in the cattle cycle and what producer’s expectations of the prices are moving forward. We are seeing cull cow rates go up and it’s highly regionalized right now.”
Dennis says the U.S.’s pasture and forage conditions are nearly four times worse at 45 percent rated poor to very poor compared to the five-year average of 12 percent.
