A longtime Idaho rancher suggested this week’s segment. We’ll start with this quote from an unknown author: “Truth is, great things take time. So, either you wait or you settle for less.” With that, let’s look at retail prices for the three major proteins and contrast those prices with the amount of time it takes to produce each.
We’ll start with the cheapest – broiler chicken. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the highest-priced cut of chicken in August 2025 was “Chicken, boneless breast,” priced at $4.21 per pound.
The next cheapest is pork, and the highest-priced cut of pork in August 2025 was sliced bacon, priced at $7.21 per pound.
The most expensive reported protein was beef, and the highest-priced beef cut was USDA Choice boneless sirloin steak at $14.32 per pound.
These data show that the highest-priced cut of beef was roughly three times the highest-priced chicken cut and roughly two times higher than the highest-priced pork cut.
Why might that be?
Let’s look at the time it takes to produce each of these highest-priced cuts from the three different species. Again, we’ll start with the cheapest – broiler chicken.
It takes about 21 days for a fertilized egg to hatch. The eggs are typically hatched in a hatchery and then moved to a confinement chicken facility where the chicks will grow into broiler chickens in about seven weeks. The entire production cycle, from a fertilized egg to a slaughter-ready broiler chicken, lasts about ten weeks. Importantly, a hen can lay about 300 eggs per year, so each hen can produce about 300 broiler chickens per year.
Most broiler chickens are owned and raised by corporate processing companies known as integrators that own the hatchery and the chickens, while paying farmers to raise the chickens through production contracts.
Now let’s look at the next expensive – pork. A bred female pig, called a sow, has a gestation period of about 115 days – three months, three weeks and three days. The piglets are typically weaned from their mother within about two weeks and then raised in a large confinement facility for six to seven months before they are ready for slaughter. The entire production cycle, from a bred sow to a slaughter-ready pig, lasts about nine to 10 months. Importantly, sows have litters, meaning they will have about 10 pigs each time they give birth, and they can give birth about twice per year, so each sow can produce about 20 new pigs per year.
And this brings us to beef. A bred cow has a gestation period of about nine months. After a calf is born, it will typically suckle the cow while on pasture for about six months and then be weaned from the cow to continue grazing on pasture for about another six months. When the calf is about a year old or so, it will typically be moved from pasture into a confined feeding facility known as a feedlot, where it will be fed a finishing ration of grain for about four months. So, the entire production cycle, from the bred cow to a slaughter-ready beef animal, typically lasts more than two years. Importantly, each cow will have only one calf per year, so unlike chickens and pigs that produce hundreds or tens of offspring each year, respectively, the mother cow only produces one calf each year.
And so it is that the price progression of the three major proteins is associated with the production cycle and prolificacy of each species.
A single hen can produce hundreds of broiler chickens each year, and it takes only about 10 weeks from fertilization to slaughter – all typically done in a confinement setting – to produce the lowest-priced protein.
A single sow can produce tens of new pigs each year, and it takes only about 10 months from the time it’s bred until its piglets are grown and ready for slaughter – all typically done in a confinement setting – to produce the second lowest-priced protein.
And now we’re back to beef. A single cow will produce only on calf each year, and each calf will spend most of its life outdoors drinking milk and eating grass. It isn’t moved into a confinement setting until the last few months before slaughter. And so, with a reputation for having the longest biological cycle of any farmed animal, it is beef that has historically commanded the highest price of the three major proteins and still does today.
So, when you’re ready to eat the greatest of the three proteins, be sure to look for beef from an animal that was born, raised and slaughtered right here in the United States of America.
