Cattle markets shift from bear to bull - ranchers set to benefit

Jun 09, 2023

What a difference a year makes.

A year ago, ranchers were being squeezed by tight margins and profits - if any - were slim at best.

This year market prices for calves have been rocketing upwards into the stratosphere and with any luck later this fall ranchers are set to cash in.

“There is a fair bit of optimism this year. The markets have improved. They are much stronger this year right across the board compared to a year ago,” Garner Deobald president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association said.

The two day AGM was held Monday and Tuesday, June 5-6, at the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds.

Improved soil moisture conditions, as well as access to water, has most ranchers looking forward to what is shaping up to be a better year, he said.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.