CHICAGO — There's little relief ahead for record U.S. steak and burger prices. While cattle ranchers like Brenda Richards are expanding herds for the first time in almost a decade, it can take two years to get more meat on the plate.
After shrinking supply sent beef costs surging last year, the government still expects output to drop to a 22-year low in 2015. While ranchers are starting to breed more cows, calf gestation is nine months, with as much as 20 more before they are big enough to slaughter. Richards says she may increase her family's 600-cow breeding herd to as many as 650.
"It's a little bit of an expansion," said Richards, who has been farming in Reynolds Creek, Idaho, with her husband for three decades. "We've held steady for quite some time."
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