America has gone through some tough times in the last month. I realize some concessions were reached, but it almost feels like the government shutdown was not worth all the time. I think a couple days of good negotiations could have solved the issue.
This country can’t keep providing dollars to those who don’t want to work, especially immigrants who just want to live off the dole. In some ways, a person can’t blame them as they received all they needed when they crossed the border.
But the government is back to business and rolling again. I guess the Democrats wanted to fly home more than the Republicans – they broke ranks first.
I think the big issue today is the high cost of everything, especially those affected by tariffs. Hopefully this issue will be resolved, but other countries need to realize they can’t keep ripping off Americans by not letting us sell our products in their countries.
A good example is Australia flooding the U.S. with cheap lamb and not letting the U.S. export lamb into their country. I can see why they don’t – our lamb quality is way better than their own.
Findings from an American Sheep Industry Association study show U.S. lamb imports rose from 30.3 million pounds in 2020 to 213.6 million pounds in 2024 – a nearly 45 percent increase – causing U.S. market shares to decline by more than nine percentage points.
By 2024, imports captured almost 70 percent of the domestic market, primarily driven by pricing disparities.
The study showed imported square-cut lamb shoulders were found to be priced an average of 10.8 percent lower than a U.S. product, with some instances approaching a 19.5 percent discount.
Like its beef, American lamb is far superior to Australian meat when comparing the size of the cut, quality of the product, amount of nutrients, taste and tenderness. The American consumer gets their money’s worth buying U.S. meat, but most buy on pricing.
Lamb is now at a disadvantage because the infrastructure needed to process U.S lamb doesn’t exist, and Australian interests have a monopoly. Plus, China is not buying U.S. wool. This really puts American lamb producers at a disadvantage.
It is the same with beef – especially ground beef. Consumers are choosing with their pocketbooks.
There are those who want mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, but if consumers are buying with their pocketbooks, where beef product comes from doesn’t matter so much. Let’s just stay with voluntary country of origin labeling and let customers decide for themselves.
The government now wants to investigate beef meatpackers. During past government investigations, meatpackers simply paid millions of dollars to get the government off of their backs and went about their business.
Since meatpackers are currently not making much money and because cattle numbers are low, they are operating on less hours and less profits, so they may just be getting by.
I know there are some new packinghouses that spent a lot of money building a facility but can’t find cattle to process. They have to stay busy to make a profit.
In today’s world, U.S. lamb and beef products are not overpriced. They are simply priced at what they are worth.
Dennis Sun is the publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, a weekly agriculture newspaper available online and in print.
