Cattle ranchers who quickly expanded their herds after a prolonged Texas drought now have become their own worst enemies.
The industry-wide buildup was the fastest Shelby Horn, a fourth-generation cattleman with a family ranch in Nebraska, had seen in at least 30 years. The result: An explosion of beef on the market and a 30 percent drop in wholesale prices from a record set in May 2015, when supplies were tight after the drought. And with many of the calves still a year or two from slaughter, the industry finds itself with no easy way to adjust.
This could mean beef prices will keep falling through 2019, according to John Nalivka, the president of Sterling Marketing Inc., an industry consulting firm.
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