03/10/05 Fifty years part two

Fifty Years II Yesterday I talked about advances the beef industry has made in the last 50 years. I'm Jeff Keane and today I'll tell you what these gains mean from a different perspective. What if the beef industry had not experienced the advances in technology it had in the last 50 years? Well, to produce the needed beef supply for 2004 the U.S. cattle herd would have had to been about 180 million head instead of the 95 million head we actually have today. Think of the increased land use and animal waste issues that we don't have to worry about. To provide pasture and feed grains for 180 million head of cattle we would need additional land equivalent to the acreage of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Kansas combined. An 80% increase of beef production per animal in the last 50 years has made the United States the most efficient beef producers in the world. This efficiency actually helps preserve the environment. To put that in other words  while decreasing resource use, cattlemen have increased total beef production from 13.5 billion pounds in 1955 to 27 billion pounds in 2004. These increased efficiencies through technology have benefited each segment of the beef industry and helped keep beef prices competitive in the market place for producers, feeders, packers, and retailers while providing consumers a high quality product. Sometimes it's good to look back to see how far forward you have come. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Farmer-Stockman February 2005