# data[].attributes.body
People are concerned about the health and making sure there are nothing wrong with their meat.They want to know if the cow has had any antibiotics in any places they shouldn't so they don't get the meat spoiled in expensive parts of the cow.It could also be that the cows meat can change over stress from the cattle.If the cattle is stressed then the meat and get rough and lest tasting if the cow is stressed. Peta doesn't try and find a way to change it they just want to stop slaughtering animals and go straight twords being vegan.No one has tried and change the way animals are slaughtered.They can't find a better way excepts rioting and telling people to go vegan.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After a record-breaking year in which cattle feeders and stocker, cow-calf and seedstock operators all enjoyed record margins, one might assume that all is well in the U.S. beef industry. But this year might see a reversal for feeders and smaller margins in other sectors.

Moreover, Congress still has to find the political will to resolve the country-of-origin-labeling ( COOL) issue, while the industry must find its own political will to improve the beef checkoff program.

These two issues, however, will be secondary to three others: demand, quality and transparency. All three are inextricably linked and will determine how the beef complex performs over the next several years, especially when beef production starts to increase again.

Consumers are vital to the success of the U.S. beef industry. Whether they live in Asia, in the Americas or elsewhere, their ability to keep buying U.S. beef at higher prices will be the most important trend in 2015.

But consumers will face higher prices in 2015, because global beef production is expected to be down 1.4% from 2014 to 58.739 million metric tons (based on USDA's latest forecast). The global total has been mostly flat for the last five years, largely because of a decline every year in U.S. production.

Beef demand has been growing globally for several years. So the flat production means consumers have had to pay more. This has been positive for U.S. cattle producers and exporters, but the current concern is that prices globally might put beef out of the reach of more consumers.

That's especially a concern in countries with economies that are still struggling six years after the Great Recession. These consumers will instead eat more pork and chicken, primarily because more will be available this year than last, but also because these proteins will be much cheaper than beef.

Similar dynamics will play out in the U.S., even though its economy is the healthiest of all developed countries. GDP growth strengthened in the second half of 2014, more jobs were created and wages increased.

Nonetheless, beef prices at retail and foodservice reached record-high levels month after month, and beef sales began to struggle last September.

Americans are great beef lovers, but they will eat a startling 63% more chicken than beef in 2015. They will also eat more chicken and pork than they did last year, and less beef. That's because of total available supplies, but also because of price.

USDA forecasts that beef disappearance will be 52.2 pounds per person, vs. 54.1 pounds last year. Consumers will eat an average of 85.3 pounds of chicken, up from 83.4 pounds in 2014, and 46.6 pounds of pork, up from 45.3 pounds.

U.S. beef will also face cheaper beef in global markets because of its high price and the strength of the U.S. dollar. As I write this, the Australian dollar has fallen to a five-year low against the greenback, to just above 80 cents to the dollar. Bankers believe it might fall another 10 cents.

USDA currently forecasts that U.S. beef exports will decline nearly 3% in volume this year vs. 2014, but they may decline even more if the greenback remains strong.

The industry needs a strong U.S. economy to encourage Americans to spend more on beef than they did in 2014. That's why the industry must keep on improving beef quality - to convince consumers they're still getting great value for the dollars they spend on beef.

The industry also will have to be even more transparent about how beef is produced, to make consumers even more comfortable about buying beef. U.S. production this year is expected to fall by 1% from last year.

But consumer beef prices will still be 4.5% to 5.5% higher this year, according to USDA. Hopefully, beef's unique flavor will trump price for consumers.
Steve Kay is editor and publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly (cattle buyersweekly.com). See his weekly cattle market roundup each Friday afternoon at beefmagazine.com. You might also like: Top 20 beef industry events of 2014 How will declining fuel prices affect beef demand? How Schiefelbein Farms made room on the ranch for nine sons 100 biggest seedstock producers in the U.S. 70 photos honor the hardworking cowboys on the ranch It's the cowboys turn in the market driver's seat

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 major beef industry issues - demand, quality, transparency

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After a record-breaking year in which cattle feeders and stocker, cow-calf and seedstock operators all enjoyed record margins, one might assume that all is well in the U.S. beef industry. But this year might see a reversal for feeders and smaller margins in other sectors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More than a decade ago (2006), the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association published a discussion focused on the future of animal agriculture in the journal Choices, Volume 21, No. 3.

Late in 2010 and early in 2011, I wrote a series of Beef Talk columns that reflected on the Choices publications. I thought now would be a good time to revisit the future of livestock.

One of my driving desires is to see if any noticeable change occurred. We talk and listen, but do we hear? Do we initiate change that accommodates what was the future but is now the past?

An overwhelming challenge today is the speed at which information is presented. The time to comprehend, ponder and mull data is almost nonexistent before the release of the next wave of information, minimizing or negating the information for the very person targeted to receive it. So let us ponder what did change.

The group who spearheaded the Choices effort was a publicly supported, nonprofit organization called the Farm Foundation, and the breadth and depth of the undertaking was significant. The Farm Foundation still is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization that "serves as a catalyst for sound public policy by providing objective information to foster deeper understanding of issues shaping the future for agriculture, food systems and rural regions."

The Farm Foundation partnered with private and public organizations in an effort to look ahead for the next 10 years and ponder animal agriculture. Today, the future of beef still is a concern, and daily news and reports feed into the discussion.

In fact, now the discussion even has expanded into lab-based protein. Whoever would have thought that discussion was coming?

The cow herd inventory continues to fluctuate but never has reached the numbers from back when I was in college in the early 1970s. Peaks and lows in inventory still follow the cattle cycle triggered by supply and demand. Concerns are still real.

Having been to many meetings, re-meetings and re-re-meetings, the wheel tends to spin and issues surface, debate ensues, issues subside and then the cycle repeats. Much of what is happening is really not new.

Change is slow, and perhaps that is not all bad. Since the original Choices article 12 years ago, the teaching principles of cow-calf management and the syllabus have changed little. The format has changed, and classrooms express "newness," but no, the core cattle management principles have not changed.

The real question still remains: What are we doing about it? Today, the forces that were impacting beef production 12 years ago still are at work.

We realized 12 years ago, and now as well, that like it or not, the beef business still struggles with the "breed 'em, feed 'em and eat 'em" mentality. The concept that what happens on our individual operations must feed into a larger system is very ingrained, almost encouraging the cow-calf producer to take a "no change" stance.

Some cow-calf producers continue to get larger, realizing that even the large systems we feed into ultimately feed into even larger systems. Who calls the "shots"? Well, that is a good question.

The need to cash flow has pushed cow-calf operations to expand. Income minus expenses is not a simple calculation; however, many production units struggle with finding the cash to keep the calculation positive. Cattle operations still monitor and struggle with expense, oftentimes narrowing their ability to survive as a viable beef operation into the future by passing by known market and efficiency management options to maintain cash.

Managerial options still need to be much broader and reflective of current worldwide consumer thinking. The 2006 Choices report identified seven issues that are fundamental to the future of beef and animal agriculture:

Markets, structure and competition

Value of integrated markets

Increasing demand

Environmental regulation and litigation

Immigration and labor

Animal identification and traceability systems

Community impacts

How many of these terms still sound familiar? They all should.

Our understanding of these seven issues defines our long-term survivability. Knowing the amount of feed a beef cow eats and the sire of next year's calf is important, but the ability to produce that calf by the next generation depends on understanding these issues and tweaking them for the betterment of the beef industry.

Spend some time reading, pondering and mulling the future of beef during the next few weeks as issues will be revisited and contemplated for the betterment of our future.

May you find all your ear tags.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Kris Ringwall, North Dakota State University Extension beef specialist

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Beef Talk: Seven issues affect future of beef production

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than a decade ago (2006), the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association published a discussion focused on the future of animal agriculture in the journal Choices, Volume 21, No. 3. Late in 2010 and early in 2011, I wrote a series of Beef Talk columns that reflected on the Choices publications.