Continued focus on demand long-term goal for US red meat

As the US Meat Export Federation, (USMEF) convenes in Fort Worth for its Spring Conference May 21-23, talks of cattle herd size and rebuilding have come to mind. As keynote speaker, Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, addressed the topic noting that the industry is still in tight fed cattle supplies and there are more hooks than cattle to fill them when it comes to processing capacity, Drovers said.

“Non-fed slaughter, non-fed cow and bull slaughter has declined significantly, as you would expect,” Blach says. “We’re stabilizing the herd from a lack of harvest of the cows. We’re seeing very gradual, slow, slow, slow expansion, but it does look like when we look back, January of 2025 will be the low in the beef cow herd.”

He says it’s important people recognize the per capita beef supplies are pretty flat. “This price increase that we’re experiencing in the industry is demand driven,” Blach adds. “Beef demand’s at a 37-year high. And I think when people think about demand, obviously quality has been the key to that. We’ve seen the quality of the animals being produced has increased substantially.”

USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom says with all the tariff disruption in the first quarter of 2025, the red meat industry needs to focus on the long term, which is demand.

“This is just the nature of the market that we’re in,” Halstrom says. “The reality is that demand continues. Demand is record-breaking on both beef and pork in a variety of markets. We have the ability to adjust as needed. A good example being China currently, but I think the message is that we’ve got to keep our eye on the ball. In the end, I really think all this noise around what may or may not happen will be superseded by demand.”