“Whiplash” is how Fort Davis cattle rancher Bobby McKnight describes the bursting of the cattle-price bubble that producers knew was coming, but just not so fast or so dramatically.
With the perfect storm of drought and disease-caused scarcity of not only beef but also chicken and pork now over and foreign demand tempered by the high dollar, U.S. consumers have seen their dollar stretch further at the meat case than two years ago, when beef prices were at record highs. But if it wasn’t far enough to sub out that Christmas ham with a rib roast, don’t blame McKnight.
Although cattle prices may have dropped 40 percent over 2016, consumers haven’t seen that kind of price drop as retailers remain in holdout mode and market forces such as competition with other proteins and global demand remain volatile.
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