NEWNow you can take heed to Fox Information articles!
LA GRANGE, TEXAS — Alongside the bends of Freeway 71, a string of regular Texas cities dot the wind-swept pastures. It’s right here the place most people earn a dwelling with their fingers, put on mud on their boots, solar on their pores and skin and simple smiles on their faces.
That is the tender fringe of the Hill Nation, the place limestone provides option to crimson dust and household ranches sew the land collectively. Of us right here haul their very own hay, do issues proper the primary time and do not look ahead to daylight to begin the day.
Amongst those that know the grind is Cole Bolton, proprietor of Okay&C Cattle Firm, who welcomes the Trump administration’s renewed deal with the razor-thin margins ranchers have endured for years.
“What the actual situation is, is the worth differential between the massive 4 packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” Bolton informed Fox Information Digital.
A photograph of Cole Bolton and his spouse in Texas. (Courtesy of Cole Bolton)
Often called the “massive 4,” Tyson, JBS, Cargill and Nationwide Beef anchor the U.S. beef provide chain, commanding pricing energy that reaches from pasture to plate.
Mixed, the packing titans course of about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that turn into steaks, roasts and different grocery store cuts.
AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH
And people margins, Bolton mentioned, have been squeezed for many years. “Ranchers have handled such skinny margins of profitability for the final 20 years.”
Cattle rancher Brad Randel rounds up a few of his Black Angus cattle to promote at public sale. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Submit/Getty Pictures)
It’s the sort of sustained monetary pressure that federal officers say might sign deeper issues within the provide chain.
The revelation comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s govt order establishing meals provide chain safety activity forces throughout the Justice Division and the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) to deal with dangers from worth fixing and anti-competitive conduct.
TRUMP’S BEEF IMPORT PLAN IGNORES KEY ISSUE SQUEEZING AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHERS
“My administration will act to find out whether or not anti-competitive conduct, particularly by foreign-controlled firms, will increase the price of dwelling for People and tackle any related nationwide safety menace to meals provide chains,” Trump mentioned within the order launched on Saturday.
In keeping with the order, the lawyer basic and the FTC chairman could carry enforcement actions or suggest new regulatory measures if the investigation uncovers anti-competitive conduct.
The federal probe introduced by President Donald Trump didn’t particularly title firms within the meat-packing business. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Pictures)
In a associated transfer, the Trump administration known as on the Justice Division to examine the foremost meatpacking firms, accusing them of driving up beef costs by means of “illicit collusion, worth fixing and worth manipulation.”
The probe didn’t establish any targets.
BEEF PRICES ARE CLOSE TO RECORD HIGHS — BUT AMERICANS AREN’T CUTTING BACK
In the meantime, beef costs have climbed to file highs.
In keeping with USDA knowledge, the common worth of beef in grocery shops climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $9.18 per pound by August 2025, a roughly 9% improve over that interval. Regardless of that rise, beef demand continues to hit new highs.
However that sturdy urge for food comes as ranchers are contending with the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 70 years.
Years of punishing drought, rising prices and an getting old ranching workforce have thinned herds throughout the nation. Ranchers and agricultural economists alike say rebuilding will take years, and beef costs aren’t more likely to ease anytime quickly.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Cattle graze on a ranch in Texas on Nov. 14, 2025. (Amanda Macias/Fox Information Digital)
“I feel it may take some time to repair this disaster that we’re in with the cattle scarcity. My message to customers is easy: Of us, be affected person. We have to construct again our herds,” Bolton informed Fox Information Digital.
He famous that the cattle business has weathered one setback after one other, from market turmoil to excessive situations, over the previous 5 years.
