Beef will be in tight supply through 2015 and into 2016 but consumers may get a break from record prices with an increased volume of chicken, turkey and pork, said economist Chris Hurt of Purdue. It doesn’t take as long for chickens and hogs to reproduce as for cattle, Hurt writes at farmdoc daily, noting the expectation that lower-priced meat will be available during the second quarter of 2015.
Ranchers are sending fewer cows and heifers to market, which indicates they are being kept for breeding and to expand U.S. cattle numbers, said Hurt. The expansion of cow numbers “appears to have started in earnest, especially in the second half of this year,” he said. That points to larger beef output in the future, but less beef now because of lower slaughter totals.