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)