Carcass weights have steadily increased since the 1970s and the modern beef cow produces considerably more beef. Unless we increase the demand for beef, we simply do not need as many beef cows now, and we are going to need even fewer in the future. In all of the beef discussions that I have sat through, I never heard one discussion on how improved genetics is decreasing the number of beef cows needed. Somehow, the beef industry elects to ignore the primary economic impact of output-increasing technologies. For this there is an economic price to be paid.
Cattle cycles cause beef price cycles.
Nominal beef prices start out the decade at a relatively high level, decrease to a low by the middle of the decade, then return to a relatively high level at the end of the decade. Price changes during a beef price cycle are greatest for feeder calves and least for slaughter cattle. The next beef price cycle is in the making. This confirmed the perception that feeder supply was indeed lower. The drop in numbers, however, was caused by the cattle cycle, not by the Northern Plains snowstorms.