Russell's Farm Fresh Beef

08/22/2026

President Trump’s announcement today is a frustrating step in the wrong direction for American cattle producers.

According to a truth social post the U.S. will allow an additional 300,000 metric tons, approximately 661 million pounds, of imported ground beef into the country over the next 90 days without out-of-quota tariffs, with the stated intent of selling it 25% below current market prices.

That comes at a particularly difficult time for Arkansas cattle producers. Drought, higher input costs and historically low U.S. cattle inventories are already complicating decisions about retaining heifers and rebuilding the cow herd. Many Arkansas producers are also preparing to market calves right now.

We know import policy can move cattle markets quickly. Following the October 2025 announcement aimed at lowering beef prices through increased imports, Arkansas steer calf prices fell $41/cwt in just two weeks. Today, feeder cattle futures are already reacting.

American cattle producers have weathered years of challenges while continuing to supply consumers with high-quality beef. Creating additional downward pressure on cattle prices may provide a short-term response to high beef prices, but it does nothing to address the underlying problem of historically low cattle inventories. It could also make producers more hesitant to invest in rebuilding those inventories.

If the goal is a stronger American beef supply, producers need the market confidence to build it. You don’t grow the American beef supply by making it harder to raise American beef.

08/06/2026

When you’ve had your butt whooped as a puppy for chasing chickens, you grow into a dog that tolerates them in your space because you don’t want a butt whooping.

07/21/2026

We will have burger available soon, pm if interested.

07/04/2026

Happy 250th Independence Day! Y’all stay safe!

06/25/2026

Worth a thought....

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!

05/09/2026

We all try to post all the good things that happen or the good about our farm. Most of the time there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than farming but you have weeks like this one that remind you of the harsh realities that come with farming and especially livestock. We had a 3 month old calf die on us, it was fine one day and lethargic with high temp the next day and dead the next morning. I went to rotate cows and noticed that calf didn’t come up with the rest of the cattle, went and found it laying on the far side of the paddock by itself, which was very out of the ordinary for a calf that age. Got it moved to the corral and worked through the chute so I could get a temp reading, high fever as suspected. It was 7:30pm by this time, I had no meds on hand as the things it needed require a prescription from a vet, got ahold of vet about 8:30 pm and was scheduled to pick up meds first thing next morning, calf was gone by morning. We believe the calf caught pneumonia due to the drastic temperature swings we’ve had recently and the rain to go with the cooler temperatures. We were able to check our other calves and they all had low grade fevers but weren’t showing symptoms, hopefully we’ve got them all treated and everything goes back to normal. The saying with sick calves is “if they’re showing symptoms, the time to have treated them was yesterday “ and that’s pretty much how it is. This was a first for us to lose a calf that age, typically if you can get them past 2-3 weeks things are good until time to wean. I was told by an older cattleman when I was just starting out that the only way to learn things in the cattle business is by learning from your mistakes and the more costly the mistake the more you’ll learn.

05/06/2026

05/02/2026

We got a nice stand of crimson clover in our pastures this year despite the drought. Clover naturally accumulates nitrogen that then feeds the other plants around it as well as attracting pollinators, and the cattle love it. I’m not the best at posting on social media or putting into writing the things we do on the farm, but regenerative agriculture is something I’m pretty passionate about and try to practice to the best of my ability and knowledge. Planting legumes such as clover that naturally give your other plants what they need is an important part of regenerative agriculture.

04/26/2026

A few pictures this morning while I was walking around the farm drinking coffee and enjoying what the Lord has blessed us with . We might be fond of Hereford influenced cattle, hard to beat a white faced calf.