Bovine market: Cattle industry sees high market prices, low herd average

ELLENSBURG — It’s a great time to be in the cattle industry, said Washington Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President and cattle rancher Chelsea Hajny. “It’s the thing that agriculture in general, whether in production agriculture, whether you’re in crops and farming, or raising cattle is very cyclical,” said Hajny. “It’s an exciting time to be in cattle right now because beef prices are high and it’s always a struggle to be profitable with inputs, and when I say inputs, I mean feed, the cost of fuel, et cetera.” Hajny said before last year the market was very different. “Prices in the last several years of commodities have been sky-high, so it has been really hard to break even in cattle,” she said. “So now it’s exciting to see cattle prices trend upwards.”