In 2025, total cattle slaughter was 29.252 million head, down 6.4% year over year and down 13.1% from the recent cyclical peak in 2022. Cattle slaughter in 2025 was at the lowest level since 2015. Table 1 shows the breakdown of 2025 cattle slaughter by size categories of beef packing plants. This includes both fed and cow slaughter plants. Out of a total of 937 federally inspected packing plants, 94.8% (888 plants with capacity up to 100,000 head per year) accounted for 1.92

The October 30, 2025, post to this blog covered “Beef on Dairy” growth. This post is six months later, updating “Beef on Dairy” growth. Data for this analysis is from many sources and some of the data conflicts, but regardless, there is significant growth in “Beef on Dairy.” There are three drivers to this growth. One of the drivers is that dairy producers are desperate to find new sources of revenue. The prior post covered the current low producer prices for important mi

Genetic improvement is inarguably one of the biggest drivers that has built American agriculture and food abundance as we know it today. Dairy producers were among the earliest adapters and innovators in this regard. And when you have some as far as many breeders have, it can be difficult to continually improve upon what is already the best. One of the biggest shifts that has happened is moving beyond the limitations of more “traditional” breeding practices on pedigree-based