These explanations for high beef prices sound like bull . . .

Photo above - screen shot from HBO's "WestWorld". Evidently cattle will be so expensive in the future that it will be cheaper to assemble robot cows for a theme park than simply breed real ones?

I accept the basic premise of the Houston Chronicle (link below) – that beef prices are 11.6% higher than a year before. But the reasons given for this inflation defy belief. Let’s deconstruct them.

1 – Herds have not been “rebuilt” since 2019. Wait – 5 years since the pandemic, and herds are still too small? That can’t be a leftover covid problem. In fact, if you go the American Farm Bureau official website, the amount of cattle being grazed is down 6% since 2020. It’s down 10% since 2000. Herd size has nothing to do with covid 19, lockdowns, or supply chain disruption.

2 – Fuel prices are supposedly up. This is another load of bull. The “Macrotrends” chart (link below) shows that gasoline costs were flat from 2024-2025, and down significantly from 2022. In fact, gas is about the same price per gallon now as in 2005, when beef prices were much lower.

3 – Hay costs too much. This is so ridiculous I didn’t even bother to look for a chart from “The Hay Producers of America” (If such an organization actually exists). Soybean farmers are plowing under their crops because nobody – especially China – wants all those soybeans. Feed them to cattle. If you can’t figure out how to do that, plant hay instead. Sheesh!

4 – Imported beef from Brazil has gone up since tariffs began. Probably true. Let’s drill down on this one, okay? Is Brazilian beef the reason the number of cattle on the hoof in America is lower year after year? Is America no longer self-sufficient in basic proteins – beef, chicken and pork? John Wayne and Kevin Costner cowboy-ism and cattle drives. Brazil and Argentina are simply copycats, and they pay their gauchos starvation wages. If we stop buying Brazilian beef, can the rainforest be saved? We showering taxpayer money on South America to save the rainforest (Biden administration policy), and it doesn't seem to have any impact. Brazil continues to clear-cut tropical forests and turn them into pasture.

I am not persuaded that the Houston Chronicle has nailed the reasons why I’m paying $10.80 a pound for Wagyu beef patties at the supermarket. Wait – isn’t Wagyu a Japanese thing? Why the hell are our quarter pound patties coming from Japan now? Who demanded we use massaged cows as a source of hamburger? Somebody at the supermarket seems to be okay with paying $11.00 a pound for mystery meat which may – or may not – have been coddled in zen gardens near Tokyo and Osaka. Earth to food shoppers – we’re might be getting scammed by someone in the supply chain.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Beef prices are breaking records. Here's why they're so high.

U.S. Cattle Inventory Smallest in 73 years | Market Intel | American Farm Bureau Federation

Monthly U.S. Gasoline Prices (1976-2025)

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Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

Actually a lot of your factors are very applicable to beef going up in price all over the world, generally across the globe the size of beef herds has been reduced in size.
Most are targeting higher quality rather than quantity production. It is far more viable to produce one animal that the meat sells at for higher price than to produce three that sells at average price.
Onto to Wagyu they are high quality meat animals and are farmer allover the world now, not only in Japan.
But they are far smaller than the average animal used for beef. So the meat is always higher priced than other beef is.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Avectoijesuismoi if the quality is going up, I haven't noticed when I use my "Big Green Egg" lump charcoal grill/smoker.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SusanInFlorida I am personally not a big beef eater but if you buy Wagyu or Kobe beef as opposed to regular beef the quality is higher a good steak should be marbled looks like it has a lot of fat in the meat. Good Wagyu and Kobe are that it is much more succulent and far better flavoured.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

It is also not so good for a person to eat a lot of red meat, as a whole either. It causes a lot of health issues like cholesterol in the long term, as does eating a lot of fried food such as eggs. I have several times looked at plates of food in places that people are eating and thought you are killing yourself slowly in the long run.
The human body is actually not well suited to eating meat we are actually designed to be foragers. If you look at the design of a human without tools we are not equipped to hunt like a wolf, lynx or any other predator/carnivore. But because of tools we have become omnivores.

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Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SusanInFlorida you are correct we are equally not equipped to eat a lot of vegetable matter either including a lot of grains. Our jaws are not adapted properly. There are many things we can eat because we have tools, like stoves I don't know about you but I wouldn't fancy eating a raw potato or uncooked rice. Cabbage and cauliflower are not exactly good for us either in big quantities. I have been fortunate to have been out and spent time with both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees in there habitat.
They know what they can eat and they eat everything in quantities.
I watched a chimpanzee with a stick pushing it into a termite mound and licking the termites off the stick it ate some termites for protein then moved on to its next food it required for its daily needs.
Whether we like it or not we are descended and evolved from a now extinct group of apes. I have been to the cradle of humankind.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Avectoijesuismoi our teeth are in transition from gorilla/chimp style (larger incisors) to something less suitable to carrion and raw meat.

there is an ever growing number of people who believe everything they made should be grown in a lab, and only impersonate real food. Soy based meat, gluten free pasta, fruits with "reverse sucrose" molecules that taste sweet but can't be digested or cause weight gain.

these people believe that eating imposter food will extend their lifespans.

Avectoijesuismoi · 36-40

@SusanInFlorida I actually have investment in creating protein from insects. Ground up it looks like soya mince. Actually aimed at two markets one you can feed lots of people in countries that are small we say very poor with affordable protein and second it is cholesterol free so can be used for people to eat to keep their cholesterol levels down. It will happen there is a time coming where we won't be able to create enough food the conventional way especially proteins

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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@jshm2 i thought american cattle - and poultry - was disfavored internationally because of protectionist laws which object to hormones and supplements.

Germany and Britain are famous for this, to try and corral whatever remains of the rural/farm vote during election years.

wildbill83 · 41-45, M

constant attacks on beef industry from activist groups, greenies, etc. doesn't help either; nor does developers buying up pastures/grazing land to build tacky houses, solar panels and wind turbines...

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@wildbill83 they only get attacked when prices go up. when prices remain flat, the media and congress moves on to other targets. Car prices, egg prices, housing prices, medical services, college tuition.

NativePortlander1970 · 51-55

Cattle farmers and ranchers here in America are being paid not to herd them anymore so we have to import from Brazil, making us pay the 50% tariff, my local store, all imported...

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@NativePortlander1970 this sounds like something I intensely want to believe. is there a link showing that US cattle ranchers are being paid to reduce their herd size, output? I know that dairy farmers get payouts when the federal government adds to our "strategic cheese stockpiles"

NativePortlander1970 · 51-55

@SusanInFlorida I currently live in iowa, my mother grew up on a farm, i know many cattle farming families, none have any cows

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