BEEF PRODUCTION Riding cycle out the BY RYAN MCCARTHY | rmccar thy@sos land.com T hroughout 2024, US beef cattle producers worked to determine the next courses of action and what the herd rebuilding process will look like over the coming years. During a recent analysis, Charlotte Talbott, animal agriculture sustainability analyst at RaboResearch, detailed strategies and management decisions for stakeholders that could impact the industry across the country. Many headwinds remain for cattle producers, including record-low inventory, 52 MEAT+POULTRY | 01.25 | www.meatpoultry.com volatile markets influenced by inflationary conditions, and many operations recovering from drought even though they received some relief during the last calendar year. At the beginning of 2024, the US Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that the national cattle inventory was 87.2 million, down 2% from 2023. Statistics from NASS detailed that this was the smallest cattle inventory in 73 years. cycle Influencing factors behind the restoration of the cattle herd in the United States lcrribeiro33@gmail - stock.adobe.comhttp://www.meatpoultry.com