In the News

Steve Nein has been in the cattle business in Julesburg, in the northeastern corner of the state, for about 50 years.

When he found out last Friday that President Donald Trump was dropping tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported beef for 90 days in an effort to lower the price of ground beef, he was not happy. 

“This administration is always talking about America first,” Nein said. “Here we've got our own product, our good beef raised here in America, and then we're going to compete with it by shipping it in.”

He described the announcement as a political move. The 90-day window encompasses the midterm election, where affordability has been a key issue for many voters.

Nein admitted that the last few years have been profitable. But he also pointed out that, while he may have sold calves last year for around $2,400, there have been years where they sold for $500 a calf. And while prices are good now, ranchers are also contending with higher prices overall, including increased costs to keep the herd.

He’s planning on selling his calves this fall, but the announcement Friday, he said, “knocked the prices of those off 20, 30 cents a pound.” 

“Well, on a 500-pound calf, that’s $100 a calf,” he said. “That could hurt us immediately.”

This echoed what Chad Franke, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, has heard from his members. Franke was not surprised by the move, but it was the timing, right when calves are coming off the range and going to market. 

“The numbers I've heard are $200 to $400 out of the pocket of our ranchers for every calf that they sell,” Franke said, adding that’s why many ranchers are outraged by the move.

If the long-term fix for beef prices to go down is to increase herd size, Franke added, “Reducing the price of the cattle that our producers are getting is not the way to encourage more production. It's actually a way to further reduce the cattle herd numbers.”

The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association also expressed their consternation with the decision.

“Colorado cattle producers understand the challenges facing consumers, but if we are serious about rebuilding the U.S. cattle herd, producers need to be at the table as solutions are developed,” said CCA President Mark LeValley in a statement. “We believe addressing regulatory burdens, high input costs, access to grazing, labor challenges, and other barriers facing producers will have a more lasting impact on herd rebuilding.”

What may really sting, however, is that the amount of ground beef imported may not significantly reduce the price.

The USDA estimated that total beef consumption in the U.S. will be almost 30 billion pounds in 2026. The temporary increase of imported beef will amount to about 661 million pounds, or just over 2% of total consumption.

“It's not going to affect the price that consumers pay in any significant way,” Franke said. “The only way to reduce what consumers are truly paying for the beef that they buy is either increase cattle herd numbers or reduce the concentration in the market where there's not so much profit being taken by the big packers and the retailers. The other way we could do it is by making sure that imported beef is labeled and priced appropriately.”

Nein and others are hoping the Trump administration takes note of the pushback from cattle producers across the country and changes course.

Bipartisan pushback in Congress

If not, some members of Congress, including Colorado’s congressional delegation, who have also taken issue with Trump’s decision, say they’ll push for other solutions.

“There is a reason why President Trump’s decision to increase foreign beef imports is opposed by Democrats and Republicans alike,” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement. He sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee. “It’s a short-term response to high prices that will hurt ranchers, make it harder to rebuild America’s cattle herd, and leave us even more dependent on foreign beef in the future. While the president pursues incoherent policies, I’ll keep pushing for solutions that support Colorado ranchers and lower beef prices for the long term.”

Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd said Colorado ranchers should not pay the price for “Washington’s latest attempt to lower costs.”

“Americans need relief from high grocery prices, but we are not going to build a stronger food supply by making it harder to raise cattle here at home,” said Hurd in a statement. “The lasting solution is to rebuild the American cattle herd, strengthen domestic production, and give our ranchers the certainty they need to keep producing. We should be growing American agriculture, not undercutting it.”

Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen also said it will hurt producers in her district, which stretches from Jefferson County south through the mountains down to Custer County.

“Ranchers in my district and across Colorado are already struggling to make ends meet under the President’s trade war, while wildfire and drought continue to disrupt supply chains,” she said, while describing the move as an election-year ploy.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert said Colorado cattle producers have been fighting drought, high input costs, and low herd size.

“My ranchers and I certainly do not love this,” Boebert said in a statement. “Flooding the market with more foreign lean trimmings for 90 days does not rebuild that herd, and it does not put American cattlemen first.”

She and others have called for reinstating the mandatory country of origin labeling.

Franke said at least Colorado consumers would be able to make the decision themselves.

“They would pay more for the domestic product than they would for the imported product, unless they just plain couldn't afford it. But that would give them a choice,” he said.

The Senate Agriculture Committee voted 17-6 to include country of origin labeling to the Senate farm bill. All Democrats, including Bennet, and 6 Republicans voted for it, but the bill remains stalled in committee. The House-passed version of the Farm Bill did not include any county of origin label provision.

GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, whose district also is home to many cattle producers, said the move raises “serious concerns and threatens American beef.”

“Colorado ranchers deserve leaders who will stand with them, especially in blue states like Colorado where relentless anti-agriculture policies have handcuffed livestock operations for years,” he said in a statement. He added he’s committed to working with the White House and members of Congress to lower prices and support American producers.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to lower the price of ground beef. Last fall, he floated the idea of increasing Argentinian beef by 80,000 metric tons of imports tariff-free. 

Evans was one of a group of House members to send a letter to the administration raising concerns about the move.

The Trump administration went ahead with it regardless this past February.