According to meat packing executives, they are losing $200 per head.
Not sure whether to believe them or not but here is the article.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/a-small-neb ... _permalink
Price of beef
Re: Price of beef
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A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
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ken_sylvania
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Re: Price of beef
I'm inclined to think they are exaggerating slightly. Tyson's FY 2025 financial statement shows a (GAAP) $1.135 billion loss in their beef division. If reports that Tyson processed about 6.45 million head of beef in 2025 are accurate, this would figure to $175/head.Ernie wrote: ↑Wed Dec 24, 2025 9:30 pm According to meat packing executives, they are losing $200 per head.
Not sure whether to believe them or not but here is the article.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/a-small-neb ... _permalink
However, Tyson also reports adjusted financial reports, which eliminate things like one-time charges and other items that executives claim are not relevant to ongoing operations. Using those figures, Tyson's loss in the beef division was only $426 million, or $66/head.
Hopefully they saved some of their outlandishly high profits from 2020 and 2021 (2021 profit was over $400 per head of beef processed). They socked their customers with a 35% price increase between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021 in order to more than double both their profit margin and actual profit dollars. That should be enough to allow them to weather a couple years of losses.
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Re: Price of beef
Trump signs an order allowing farmers and ranchers to shoot wolves in an effort to help reduce beef prices.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/animals/t ... ect-herds/
This should make up to 10,000 more head available in the US, if the killing can be stopped.
29.4 million head are slaughtered each year for food in the US. So I doubt a mere 10,000 head will make that much difference in beef prices.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/animals/t ... ect-herds/
This should make up to 10,000 more head available in the US, if the killing can be stopped.
29.4 million head are slaughtered each year for food in the US. So I doubt a mere 10,000 head will make that much difference in beef prices.
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A wee little man can’t say, I’m sorry. A big man owns his mistakes and apologizes.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
A wee little man trusts himself and his own discernment. A big man is humble enough to know that he needs the counsel and input of others.
Re: Price of beef
Tyson is closing its beef plants in Illinois and Utah, and if it cannot find a buyer for its Washington plant, it will close too. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 026-08-13/
When processors were moaning about their finances a year ago, I didn’t really believe them much. Mainly, because we are also in the agricultural processing business, and as a rule of thumb, when prices are high, we do better than when prices are low. This is mostly true to the extent that you are only buying and selling a product.
But what I was missing, is the effect of this extended term of historical low beef head number on the processing side. I was focused on the sale side. We also have expensive processing lines. And I know those come with large fixed costs of owning and operating, and you only can make money when those monster processing lines are being fed. When there isn’t hardly enough business to run through them, you have cut your income in half, but still have most if your expenses. Moneyis made in volume, when it comes to processing. And there just hasn’t been enough cattle to keep those kill lines running at a profitable level. And so by closing a few locations, they can try to funnel more cattle through their other locations and keep those profitable. It makes sense to me.
Much more effective than the old fashion cattle rustling.
When processors were moaning about their finances a year ago, I didn’t really believe them much. Mainly, because we are also in the agricultural processing business, and as a rule of thumb, when prices are high, we do better than when prices are low. This is mostly true to the extent that you are only buying and selling a product.
But what I was missing, is the effect of this extended term of historical low beef head number on the processing side. I was focused on the sale side. We also have expensive processing lines. And I know those come with large fixed costs of owning and operating, and you only can make money when those monster processing lines are being fed. When there isn’t hardly enough business to run through them, you have cut your income in half, but still have most if your expenses. Moneyis made in volume, when it comes to processing. And there just hasn’t been enough cattle to keep those kill lines running at a profitable level. And so by closing a few locations, they can try to funnel more cattle through their other locations and keep those profitable. It makes sense to me.
Incidentally, this Pasco plant was a victim of a $244 million ghost cattle fraud a few years back. Easterday Ranch was billing Tyson for 200,000 cattle that didn’t exist. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwa/pr/tr ... 44-millionTyson Foods announced it will look for a buyer for its Pasco, Wash., beef plant as part of a restructuring that also includes closing meat processing plants in Illinois and Utah.
The Pasco plant, which Tyson acquired in 2001, is capable of slaughtering about 2,000 head a day and processes most of the fed cattle in the Northwest.
“They’ve been very aggressive in buying fed cattle,” Washington Cattle Feeders Association Director Jack Field said. “The good news is that it’s not being closed. But there’s a certain amount of concern. You kind of wonder who a potential buyer might be.”
The Arkansas-based company said in a statement Aug. 13 that it will consolidate beef packing at three plants in Nebraska, Kansas and Texas.
The company cited a shortage of cattle. USDA cattle counts show ranchers are not retaining heifers to rebuild the country’s historically small herd, the company said.
Tyson said it will move operations to more “strategically located facilities with ample capacity to grow” and add a second shift to its plant in Amarillo, Texas, as cattle become available.
“Collectively, these changes will allow the company to maintain a similar level of cattle harvesting across a more efficient and modern network,” the company stated.
Tyson’s geographic concentration of beef packing will hurt ranchers and feedlots in other areas, including potentially Northwest producers, R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard said.
“There’s no commitment to keep the Pasco plant running if they don’t find a buyer, or certainty they will find a buyer,” Bullard said.
https://capitalpress.com/2026/08/14/tys ... nois-utah/
Much more effective than the old fashion cattle rustling.
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