In today’s beef buzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Cattle market analyst Cassie Fish, who says the current discussion about beef being “too high” in price is misplaced. She explains, “You know who will tell us it’s too high? The consumer.” Fish argues that price data alone doesn’t determine affordability, emphasizing, “Just because it shows up in the CPI data as being high… the way it works is, if they stop buying it, then we have a problem.”
Reflecting on past trends, Fish recalls, “That’s why we had a problem in 2014 because they did not like paying $5 a pound for hamburger. In 2014, we just completely priced out demand.” This time, however, she says it’s different. “We have more highly marbled beef, cattle are grading very, very well. Consumers haven’t stopped buying it.”
She insists that the market should be allowed to function naturally without interference. “I’m a complete believer in let the market sort it out. The market is smarter than all the rest of us, including the government.” Fish adds, “They’ll stop buying it. Boxes won’t rally. They’ll have to cut the kills dramatically. And then that’s what you know… it doesn’t matter how many cattle you have, because nobody wants your product.”
Fish also points to changing consumer behavior. “We eat more meals away from home today than we did in 2022. People go out, they get their nice, fancy hamburgers and their fancy beers and they enjoy their meal, they’re not really thinking about beef prices.” She notes that despite higher menu prices, “The consumer is just not backing away.”
Ultimately, Fish believes demand has kept the cattle market strong for years. “Everybody can thank demand for getting us as high as we got and for as long — it’s a five-and-a-half-year-long bull market.” Even with shifting conditions, she concludes, “Hopefully we’re going to find some level of support and get back into some kind of a decent trading range, and this thing doesn’t continue to fall apart.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
