Beef Industry Charts

As part of my 2006 drought strategies work, I projected the purchase price of replacement bred females to use in the re-stocking strategies. Remember, these are annual prices. For example, as of Dec 2006 bred replacement heifers are selling in the 1050 to 1200 range but the 2006 annual price is considerably higher.

The key point of this chart is that bred female prices are projected to trend downward the rest of this decade and may even extend a couple of years into the next decade. The one exception might be if a lot of ranchers decide to restock after the 2006 drought all in one year. I doubt that will happen as we will need rain and green grass in all of cow country to trigger a massive re-stocking in one year.

I am often asked about when ranchers should consider buying added heifers. I think it will be towards the end of this decade when weaned heifer calf prices are at the lowest.