Beef Production Could Shift from 2017 to 2018

Forecasted prices for beef in 2018 has dropped significantly according to reports by the USDA.

Outlook Board Chair Seth Meyer called it a intertemporaral shift.

“Moving a little cattle of the end of 2017 and moving them into 2018 on a slower pace of marketing.”

Meyer says some of the reason is that wheat is so cheap that animals can graze on it longer and steer demand and prices are strong.

That does push production to next year which dropped forecast steer prices by about $4.50 per hundredweight.