On Sale This Week: All ground beef, most beef roasts and beef ribs are on sale until March 2nd

Rising Beef Prices: A Farmer's Perspective

written by

Mike Dougherty

posted on

February 26, 2026

I visited a local dairy farmer this past week to talk about buying hay to feed our cows next winter. We spoke of many things, including one topic on the top of many farmers minds recently - beef prices.

Is it going to stay high? Can it go up more? How much can the consumer absorb? When will it come back down?

These are all things that no one knows, but many can speculate on. Those who have been around a lot longer than I have, talk about cattle cycles, how they will go up, encouraging more people to get into it and then when supply is back up, the prices will come crashing back down. Some are sure this is coming and to be cautious. Others aren't so sure and point to the factors that are causing the prices to skyrocket, such as:

  • a low and decreasing cattle herd in North America
  • a growing demand for beef, despite the higher prices
  • higher costs of doing business (land costs, fuel, taxes, etc.)
  • an aging farmer population who are cashing out and don't want to go through another bust phase
  • the challenges and risks young farmers face getting into the industry

There is more to it, but those are the large factors at play.

As an example of how drastically the prices have changed, that dairy farmer is getting roughly the same amount of money for his 3 week old male dairy calves currently as we were paying local farms we deal with 2 years ago for a ready for market grassfed and finished steer (that had been fed, housed and managed for 24- 30 months). At the time, this was a premium price that the farmer was happy to get. Now, the price is approaching double what it was - this just in a matter of two years.

All that said, I do think cattle prices were too low in the past, where it wasn't sustainable for the farmer. Prices did have to go up.

Despite the increasing prices, beef demand has not slowed down. I think this demonstrates that the real value of beef (and cattle) is much higher than what we had been accustomed to in the past. More and more people have figured out that beef is a nutrient dense health food - it has REAL value.

On that note, check out how similar the two graphs (from the NASDAQ over the past 5 years) are below: 

gold-contin.jpg
feeder-cattle.jpg

As fiat money loses confidence and value, real tangible assets gain confidence and value. As nutrient deficient and fake food (see below) are becoming more understood for what they are, REAL food increases in value.

beyond.jpg

We've done our best to minimize our margins and to try to keep the rest of our operating costs as low as possible.

It is important to us that we are fair to the trusted farmers in our network that we have built relationships with, who we purchase calves from to grow our own herd and others in our network who we buy in grassfed and finished cattle from. We will continue to do that so we can ensure we are providing you with the best quality we can while also supporting other farmers in our community.

So how can you as our customer best navigate all of this?

#1 Take advantage of our sale on ground beef, beef roasts and ribs (see below), which will be on until March 2nd.

#2 Buy in bulk. We offer bulk pricing on things like ground beef, braising ribs, burgers, sausages, etc. When you buy the bundles, you get a discounted price per pound.

#3 Buy 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 or whole beef. This is obviously a big investment, but it is the cheapest way to purchase beef from us. If you don't need that much for yourself, we do have some customers that go in with family and friends to make these purchases. Just keep in mind that when you buy this way you are getting more than the prime steaks. You are also getting roasts, ribs, and everything else. If you would like to learn more about this, please get in touch.

As always, thanks for following along and we hope you have a great week!

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