USDA's most recent Cattle on Feed report indicated 1.82 million head of cattle were placed in feedlots in January 2025, up 2% from 2024.

Strong beef demand will likely continue in 2025, helped along by potentially tighter supplies as beef producers rebuild their herds and increased engagement in the cattle markets.

The CattleFax Symposium at NCBA’s 2025 CattleCon revealed a fairly healthy supply of feed and grain in the early winter, all thanks to a record-high yield in 2024.

Brooke Rollins was confirmed on Feb. 13 by the U.S. Senate as secretary of agriculture by a vote of 72-28. She is just the second woman to serve as secretary of agriculture.

At no time in the history of livestock agriculture have producers been more efficient at producing beef than they are now. Just in the last half-century, global beef production has nearly doubled, despite a historically small herd size.

Through the first half of 2024, it looked like the U.S. might be climbing out of the drought that has plagued big chunks of the country for the last half-decade. The El Nino the ag world had been waiting for was finally here. And then, it wasn’t.