Nate Rempe

Or is it just inevitable that you're going to have to try to source beef from overseas?

Yeah, I think there's a lot to be learned about the supply chain of beef in America.

Only about 13% to 14% of the total beef consumed in America is imported.

And of that percentage, about 80% is lean trim that goes into ground beef.

So in particular, portions, steaks and roasts and that largely come from the domestic supply.

And those percentages really give you a sense for how important building the domestic herd is

to meeting the demand of America's desire for red meat.

And so imports are an important part of the overall picture, but it's not the solve.

It's not the silver bullet to addressing the cost of beef in America.

Rebuilding that herd is the inevitable requirement

uh for bringing supply up and that is not a fast process katie that's you know that's a six to eight year process to kind of get back to uh what would be considered a surplus in the size of the herd i am curious though nate how we do that and by how i mean is there a real push to do that beyond just yourself meaning a more coordinated push

Yeah, it's a decision that ranchers and feedlot owners make.

It's called heifer retention.

It's an industry term that describes holding back the female animal to build the herd as opposed to sending it to market.

Now, as you might imagine, when demand is high, there's a lot of

motivation for ranchers and feedlot operators to send those female animals to market and take advantage of the optimal live price.

But that comes at a cost.

And over the last number of years, because of the demand for beef, those female animals have gone to market and have not calved.

And the end result is the lowest herd size in 70 years.

And so to change that