08/26/2026
Kind of long, but here’s our take on the imported beef situation if you're interested. :)
In 2022, I included this in an email to our customers:
“Have you been following the drought in Texas? Ranchers do not have enough grass or hay to feed their cattle. When they can find hay, prices are so high, many cannot afford it. Since so many cows are being sold and butchered, stores may have plenty of beef right now, but in the coming years there could be much less. All of those mama cows going to slaughter will not be producing calves next spring.”
Unfortunately, that is exactly what we are seeing four years later.
America’s cattle herd is at historically low levels. Years of drought forced many ranchers to reduce their herds. At the same time, the costs of hay, feed, fertilizer, fuel, equipment, land and interest continued to rise.
Texas has more cattle than any other state, so when drought forces its ranchers to sell breeding cows, it affects the whole country. Ranchers in other states were struggling too. Many smaller producers simply couldn’t afford to keep as many cattle. Stockyard prices have also been extremely high, so selling more cattle can be hard to turn down, especially for small ranchers and farmers who need the money.
Every mama cow sold means fewer calves in the years ahead. That is a big reason America’s cattle numbers are now historically low.
Rebuilding takes years. A young female calf kept for breeding still has to grow up, be bred, carry a calf and raise it. Her calf then needs time to grow into a finished beef animal. From start to finish, the beef on your plate can be three to four years in the making.
All of these circumstances have contributed to higher beef prices.
Trump has approved an additional 80,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings to be imported from Argentina. That is about 176 million pounds, or roughly the lean beef from 441,000 cattle. It sounds like a lot, but it is only about one to two weeks of America’s ground beef supply.
Do we like imported food? Absolutely not, but we can see that Trump is trying to fix a real problem. However, we are not happy that importing more foreign beef is being used as the answer. It is a short term, band-aid attempt to lower prices, not a solution for rebuilding our cattle herd or lowering expenses that continue to rise every day.
Imported beef may pass federal inspection, but we need more transparency. The whole process feels gross and questionable. That hamburger most likely contains trimmings from many different cattle and processing lots. We will never know exactly how those cattle were raised or what they were given. As the customer, you'll never know the farms or feedlot they came from, what they were fed, what medications or treatments they received, when the beef was processed, or how long it traveled or was stored before reaching the grocery store.
We will always support putting America first and supporting the small farmers and ranchers raising our food here at home.
Every animal sold by Martin Farms Beef Co. is bred, born, raised and finished right here on our South Georgia farm. We know where our cattle came from, how they were raised and what they were fed because we have cared for them from the very beginning.
Support your local American farmers and ranchers and know exactly where your beef is coming from!
