U.S. Department of Agriculture

The October WASDE lowered 2026 red meat and poultry production, with beef cut for the second half as lighter carcass weights and lower steer and heifer slaughter outweighed heavier cow slaughter. The 2027 forecast came down too, on lighter dressed weights and feedlot placements in the second half of 2026 running below expectation, which is expected to slow marketings into the first quarter of 2027. Against all of that, the board left its cattle price forecasts for 2026 and 2027 unchanged — the herd keeps shrinking on paper without USDA moving the number that reaches a shopper.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said it wanted the rules to remain in place. It also asked that the rules be highlighted in the report sent to the president.

The only cattle crossing on the US-Mexico border went back into service on Tuesday after USDA paused it in late August, having been told that the chutes on the Mexican side had become inoperable following welding modifications. The stoppage showed how thin the reopened channel still was.

Executive Order 14425 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to review authorities that may allow mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef products. The Secretary was directed to consult the United States Trade Representative within 90 days.

Executive Order 14424 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to prioritize and expand investigations of possible Packers and Stockyards Act violations. The order called for attention to practices that restrain commerce or manipulate prices.

USDA packaged a set of actions aimed at getting ranchers to hold back heifers rather than sell them, including a Beef Retention and National Development endorsement for Livestock Risk Protection, a SPUR guaranteed loan programme for regional processing, and a Regional Processor Continuity Effort. The release noted that with recent closure announcements, nearly 20 percent of beef processing capacity would be available as the herd grows.

The August proclamation raised the aggregate in-quota quantity by 300,000 metric tons for 2026, administered first come, first served in three 100,000-tonne tranches opening September 1, October 1 and October 31. The volume was allocated entirely to "other countries or areas," leaving the February Argentine allocation untouched, and the Agriculture Secretary and USTR were told to check whether the imports were in fact selling 25 percent below the market price.

The Economic Research Service forecast that beef and veal prices would increase 9.8 percent in 2026. Its forecast interval ranged from 7.0 percent to 12.6 percent.

Nearly 700 animals came through the border wall at Douglas on the Monday the port reopened, the first cattle to cross in more than a year. APHIS chief veterinary officer Alan Huddleston said the inspection included screwworm-sniffing dogs and called the reopening a proof of concept that, if it holds, would lead to more ports opening along the border.

After more than a year of closure, Rollins said it was safe to reopen the Douglas, Arizona port in 30 days and resume cattle movement, with a phased schedule and a jointly agreed import protocol. Douglas would be the only crossing open, a fraction of the pre-closure trade.

The United States had 28.5 million beef cows as of July 1, 2026. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that the figure was 1 percent below the prior year.

The Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers programme offered up to $500 million to independent and regional beef slaughter facilities, alongside a Small Processors Action Plan and a fourth $60 million round of the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program. The theory was that more places to sell cattle would weaken the Big Four's hold on the market.

The two departments agreed to expand grazing access and cut permitting delays on federal land, one of the supply-side answers to a herd that cannot grow without feed and forage. USDA later listed the memorandum among the actions it counted as its record for ranchers.

The NASS Cattle report put all cattle and calves at 86.2 million head on January 1, 2026, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier and the smallest US inventory in 75 years. Beef cows were down 1 percent at 27.6 million and the calf crop fell 2 percent, meaning the supply of animals that would reach slaughter weight in 2027 had already been set.

Food Safety and Inspection Service personnel began enforcement of voluntary U.S.-origin claims on regulated products before the products could enter commerce. The enforcement applied to claims including “Product of USA” and “Made in the USA.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and Small Business Administration announced actions for the American beef industry. The announcement identified the role of American ranchers in national security.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suspended imports of live cattle, horses and bison through every port of entry on the southern border, after the flesh-eating parasite was found on farms about 700 miles from the US line. Mexican feeder cattle had supplied roughly 5 percent of US feedlot placements, and the closure removed that supply just as the domestic herd was already shrinking.

U.S. farms had 86.7 million cattle and calves as of January 1, 2025. The National Agricultural Statistics Service published the Cattle report containing the figure.

U.S. cattle and calf inventory totaled 87.2 million head on January 1, 2024. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that the total was 2 percent below its stated January 1, 2023 comparison level.

U.S. cattle and calf inventory totaled 89.3 million head on January 1, 2023. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that the total was 3 percent below the January 1, 2022 inventory.