Great Outlook For NW Ranchers
The stars might just have aligned perfectly for a prosperous New Year for Northwest ranchers. I’m Susan Allen stay tuned for Open Range. Nearly every sector of Northwest agriculture I can think of, wheat, hay, tree fruit, berries, hops, and yes cattle seems to be out performing expectations. The drought in Texas has created a huge gaping hole in the US beef market that our region’s producers will work to fill. Drover’s Cattle Network is predicting that beef prices could climb as high as 5.5 percent all due to what the Associated Press has called the “largest –ever one-year decline in the United States leading cattle state”. The numbers are staggering. The great cattle producing state of Texas begins 2012 with 600,000….I repeat 600,000 less cattle than the year prior. A twelve percent decline. Simply due to the impact that one state has on the national beef market some experts are predicting beef production to fall by four percent this year. I think that most consumers, myself included's, initial thought is that I simply won’t be eating steak out as much at fine restaurants but the implications to the food service, grocery and restaurant industries will impact each of us in a variety of ways, for example I am sure that the fee at my mother-in-laws care center will reflect the higher cost of meat. Yet as demands for beef increase throughout out the world who better than to provide nutrient-rich protein, then Northwest ranchers.
