Special Report
Report explores cow confinement, semi-confinement
Cattle producers across the U.S. are heeding economic indications to rebuild and expand their herds, but a 32 million-acre decline in pasture availability over the last ten years is hindering expansion and causing producers to weigh options that require less land.
That’s the premise of a new report from the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness (FAR) Research and Advisory group. The report, “Outside In: Confined Cow-Calf Production as a Viable Model for Rebuilding the U.S. Cow Herd Numbers” finds that more innovation is paramount to the growth of the U.S. cattle sector.
“The U.S. cow herd must grow if the industry is going to preserve existing infrastructure and regain lost market share,” says report author and Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory Group senior analyst Don Close. “In order to for that growth to occur, the beef and cattle community must address main expansion constraints: high capital barriers, declining availability of graze-able acres, and aging producers. In many parts of the country, incorporating systems for confined calf production is an important stop to overcoming these constraints.”
We discussed that idea with Close at the recent Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio.
AUDIO: Don Close
Photo courtesy Pro-Tec Buildings
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