Episode Details

It’s The Ranch It Up Radio Show! Join Jeff Tigger Erhardt, Rebecca Wanner AKA BEC and their crew as they hear tips and tricks to manage drought, grass, flies and cows.  Plus updates on beef exports and imports, retail beef prices, market recaps and lots more wrapped into this all-new episode of the Ranch It Up Radio Show. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel.

It is that time of year that many producers are moving cattle to summer grazing.  But drought is plaguing many and it continues to worsen.  According to drought.gov, as of May 5th, 60.92% of the country is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, largely concentrated in the Southeast, High Plains, and West. There are strategies for managing drought, or I should say how we manage grass and forage uptake in the cowherd to get through drought.  Trevor Burian from Killdeer North Dakota joins us today.  Trevor has been a student of grazing, plant management, regenerative ag, and cattle efficiency and profitability his entire life.

According to Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, the role of China in global beef markets has changed rapidly in the last two decades. 

China, including Hong Kong, was not a player at all in global beef markets as little as 15 years ago but has risen rapidly to become the largest beef importer in the last decade.

For many years, China was a large beef producing and consuming country but had almost no presence in global beef markets. Starting about 2013, rising beef consumption in China began to exceed domestic beef production, leading for the first time to significant beef imports.

Although per capita beef consumption in China remains relatively low — roughly 13 pounds compared to 59 pounds in the U.S. — the large population means that small increases in beef consumption represent large amounts of beef in total.

According to the U.S. Meat Export Federation President CEO Dan Halstrom, China’s reentry into the market for U.S. beef exports will have a significant and rapid price feedback to the American industry from other markets. 

He called it a “hidden benefit” from China’s renewal of registrations for U.S. beef facilities as well as hoped-for resolution of suspensions of a significant number of plants. Most of the registrations were abruptly declared expired in March 2025 before being listed as renewed last week following a meeting in Beijing between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

REFERENCES: 

https://meatingplace.com/peel-the-importance-of-china-in-global-and-us-beef-markets/?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_cid=1103020073&utm_campaign=MTGMCD260518017&utm_date=20260519-0300

https://meatingplace.com/usmef-chinese-importers-clamoring-for-us-beef/?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_cid=1103020073&utm_campaign=MTGMCD260518017&utm_date=20260519-0300

https://www.nationalbeefwire.com/peel-the-importance-of-china-in-global-and-u-s-beef-markets

An announcement came late last week that Texas Attorney General Ken Pax