Unprecedented Four-Week Run in Fed Cattle Prices Linked to Solid Export Demand, Strong Markets

 

According to Jim Robb, executive director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center, the four-week run-up in slaughter cattle markets and higher wholesale boxed beef trade has been unprecedented. He told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays it is because certain factors in the marketplace have converged into the perfect storm, so to speak, that has spurred the dramatic leap in prices. He says in particular, strength in the export market has had a lot to do with it.

 

“This has been the best March that we’ve had since 2011 in terms of US beef export tonnage,” he said, noting that USDA has reported a 25 percent increase. “That export market is clearly part of the reason that packers have had to chase cattle supplies.”

 

And it’s not because of winter weather that producers have seen lower carcass weights being pushed through either. In reality, it has been the because of the aggressive marketing that has been done since last fall.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.