‘If It Weren’t for Me,’ They’d Be Doing ‘Terrible!’: Trump Scolds American Cattle Ranchers to Lower Prices

Mediaite ^ | 10/22/2025 | Isaac Schorr

[Miami Rebel]

President Donald Trump scolded America’s cattle ranchers in a Wednesday Truth Social rant that saw him declare that they’d be in dire straits without him.

Trump has faced criticism over his suggestion that the United States might buy more beef from Argentina.

[Liz]

[Intar]

I totally forgot about financing. Everything in Ag is loan driven and if loans are hard to get, farming doesn’t happen. That is a big problem in California since the largest costs are fertilizers and water and many farmers cannot make enough money to repay their annual loans.

[gloryblaze]

Farmers leaving the beef industry is real. We have had no livestock on our farm for the last few years. We are getting older, just as is the average age of all farmers, and it is hard work. While we never had employees, probably most do. And the supply of cheap illegal labor is drying up (thankfully, IMHO). Grain sold as grain, rather than on the hoof as meat, is easier and less labor intensive, and far more attractive to the few in the next generation who can somehow afford to enter the business.

[Liz]

Everything in Ag is loan driven and if loans are hard to get, farming doesn’t happen. That is a big problem in California since the largest costs are fertilizers and water and many farmers cannot make enough money to repay their annual loans.

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That is a problem.

[AppyPappy]

Billionaire upset because people are making money

[Liz]

Grain ......sold as grain........rather than on the hoof as meat, is easier and less labor intensive, and
far more attractive to the few in the next generation who can somehow afford to enter the business.

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Your realtime comments are valuable.

[Revel]

McDonalds has the worst meat of all the fast food restaurants. They load it with pepper to hide how bad it tastes.

[Mariner]

Feed prices and drought have doubled the price of live cattle.

https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/07/us-july-cattle-herd-smallest-since-1973/

[Mariner]

If you want to preserve an American Cattle industry, double your chicken and pork consumption. And an extra pot of beans.

And DO NOTHING in the beef markets.

This is temporary...a near doubling of live cattle prices due to feed prices and drought.

The US beef market will recover if we do nothing.

But the import of Beef from Argentina or anywhere else will do great harm and weaken the US market further.

[Dr. Sivana]

You can see that in diesel, as the price of gas goes up so does the price of diesel, even though the things that make gas more expensive frequently have no impact on the diesel supply, but the “competition” is more expensive, so there you go.

Bad example for me. In Phoenix, the price if gasoline moves largely because of seasonal mandated specual blends. Not only does tge price of diesel move independently, it is often significantly LESS expensive than the gasoline price.

[Mr. Lucky]

I beg to differ.

Small farmers are capable of feeding all Americans; unfortunately, the government has done everything it can to limit markets, restrict competition and squeeze small farmers out of the business.

[Miami Rebel]

“...the government has done everything it can to limit markets, restrict competition and squeeze small farmers out of the business”

I disagree with your premise, but the consolidation of production has everything to do with government abdicating its role in preventing quasi-monopolistic practices.

[Miami Rebel]

I considered the sources.

Is it your considered opinion that President Trump did NOT post that on Truth Social????

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115418813519600271

[LegendHasIt]

The whole thing is incredibly complex.

I live right between two big cattle ranches in NM. (no drought here in the last four years. Our little local micro-climate has been way wetter than usual; My field grass was 6 feet tall last year and 7 feet tall this year despite a paucity of sunny days.)

During ‘Covid’ and the Biden Administration the neighbors vastly reduced their herds because of new government rules and interference, and because they couldn’t get their cattle processed into store-bought consumer meat.

They started building their herds back up last year. and something I noticed a few weeks ago... Back pre-Covid, the herds around here were 85%-90% Black Angus and a mix of other southwestern types of cattle. Now the herds seem to be about 85% Hereford types, and only about 15% Black Angus.. (and a couple of Texas Longhorn hybrids I see occasionally.)

I don’t know why that would be, unless the Herefords are more suited to the current climate, whether they reproduce faster, gain weight faster so can get to market sooner, or maybe that is the only types of breeding stock that they could get to rebuild their herds.

And despite being in the middle of cattle country, Hamburger in the stores is up to $8 a pound for the lower grade stuff and $9.00 a pound for the medium grade stuff. I don’t even look at the price of steak anymore. And I don’t believe that is the ranchers’ fault. I blame the government and the oligopoly of just a few meat processors.

[waterhill]

We ate all we could and sold the rest ;^)