For Immediate Release
Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
AMES, Iowa, Oct. 28, 2026 – R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard challenged Iowa State University seniors preparing to enter the livestock industry to help change its direction, telling them that restoring competition and rebuilding independent livestock production will require their generation’s involvement.
Speaking Oct. 27 to seniors in the university’s Department of Animal Science, Bullard delivered a presentation titled “America’s Unprecedented Cattle Crisis Persists.” His message centered on three points: U.S. livestock industries have been moving in the wrong direction for decades; that direction has harmed independent producers and rural communities; and structural reforms are needed to reverse it.
Bullard argued that a hands-off approach to industry concentration, combined with trade policies that prioritize global sourcing over domestic production, has weakened the position of independent livestock producers. He urged students to consider how those policy choices will shape their opportunities to own livestock, compete for buyers and build businesses in rural America.
Using state-by-state maps, Bullard showed 666,550 reported hog operations in 1980 and 60,809 farms reporting hog inventories in 2022, while the national hog inventory increased. He said the maps illustrated that a larger national herd does not necessarily mean sustaining more farms.
He warned that concentrated packer control over market access can push producers toward contracts that commit animals for future delivery while leaving the base price to be determined later. Bullard argued that these arrangements reduce the volume of livestock sold through open cash negotiations and leave fewer transactions to establish prices for the broader market.
The hog chart showed cash-market sales at 87% in 1993 and 17.3% in January 2001, and negotiated cash purchases at 2.2% of producer-sold hog purchases in 2025. The cattle chart showed negotiated cash purchases of fed cattle declining from 52.1% in 2005 to 17.8% in 2025.
Bullard said the hog industry’s experience should serve as a warning to cattle and sheep producers. His presentation showed the U.S. beef cow herd falling from 37.1 million head in 1980 to 27.6 million in 2026, a decline of about 26%. It also documented the long-term contraction of the sheep industry.
The lamb sector illustrated his concern about growing reliance on imports. The presentation showed U.S. lamb and mutton production declining between 1980 and 2025 even as domestic consumption increased. By 2025, imports were equivalent to roughly 73% of domestic consumption. Bullard argued that a growing market should create opportunities to expand American production, rather than leave the nation increasingly dependent on foreign supplies.
“The centralization, concentration and refusal to manage imports is weakening our domestic livestock supply chains and threatening our national security,” Bullard said.
To change course, Bullard outlined reforms aimed at restoring competitive markets and giving producers more control over how they sell their livestock. These included prohibiting unpriced cattle commitments tied to future cash prices, requiring a firm dollar base price before cattle are committed to a packer, and requiring minimum weekly negotiated cash purchases at each slaughter plant. He also called for meaningful regional cash-price reporting and written agreements for all cattle transactions.
His proposals further included prohibiting packer ownership, feeding or effective control of slaughter cattle; strengthening protections under the Packers and Stockyards Act; restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef; and phasing in a tariff-rate quota designed to support domestic herd expansion. He also advocated changes to the beef checkoff, including a firewall against contracts with lobbying organizations and authority to promote beef from cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States.
Bullard’s challenge to the graduating seniors was to help shape the industry they are about to enter. He urged them to become part of the effort to restore independent producers’ bargaining power, rebuild domestic livestock production and sustain the rural communities that depend on it.
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Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle and sheep producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. Visit www.r-calfusa.com or call 406-252-2516 for more information.