Ballooning beef prices pinch Nebraska butchers and consumers

WAHOO, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska families might have a cow when they see the price of beef.

The number of cattle in the U.S. is the lowest in nearly 75 years, and the shortage is forcing prices higher and higher.

The recent drought put farmers and ranchers in a tough spot, and many of them sold a good chunk of their herds.

“Those cows never reproduced, and now there’s a shortage,” said Charlie Emswiler, the owner of Wahoo Meat Market. “There’s just a flat-out shortage. It drove the prices way up.”

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Emswiler said he sells a lot of quarter and half cows.

“Right now, you’re at $1,800 to $1,900 to purchase a half of beef,” he said. “And five years ago, that might have been $400 cheaper.”

The price hikes are trickling down to all kinds of beef products.

“A pound of ground beef five years ago, maybe we were selling it for $3.99 a pound,” Emswiler said.

But he said that same pound of beef would now cost you around $5.49.

“So that adds a lot to a family’s budget in a month,” Emswiler said. “And the beef prices have driven up other protein prices like chicken and pork.”

He said this is tough on his business.

“In our retail store, our percentage of profit, I lowered just to be able to keep selling what I can,” Emswiler said. “So the profit margin is not like it used to be. We’re making less now than we used to, and it’s all we can do.”

He said these prices will be the new normal — at least for the time being.

“What goes up will come down. It always does,” Emswiler said. “It’s going to be a while, though, because the gestation of cattle is so long, so it takes a long time to reproduce and build the herd back up. So my best guess is that it will be several years before anything changes.”