U.S. Beef Exports Important to Producers

U.S. Beef Exports Important to Producers

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

Cattle producers from across the nation have been gathering in Tampa, Fla., this week for the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show.

The joint beef checkoff’s Global Growth Committee Chair Larry Pratt runs a Texas Cow/calf and Stocker operation. Pratt discusses the important role beef exports play in maintaining profitability for U.S. cattle producers – especially during this time of high production costs

Pratt: “The thing of it is I really do believe that these foreign markets are driving the bus right now and we need to protect them and make sure that we protect our Checkoff and spend our dollars as wise as we can because that producer needs to see that the dollar is well spent and see the income come back off of that dollar.”

He discusses the importance of U.S. beef exports and foreign marketing.

Pratt: “What I see is if we can somehow grow into a market with more cattle here and maintain those same levels of product worth I think it’s going to be a great incentive for us to go ahead and try and maybe even retain some heifers or whatever else we need to do to grow our herd domestically even though our exports are down, and the cut in cattle numbers, the dollar value has basically maintained itself. I’m hoping that value stays there so we can see some incentive in our domestic producers to increase their herds a little bit.”

 ?