Cattle market produces good returns in 2025

ELLENSBURG — Improved cattle prices resulted in a better year for ranchers in 2025. “Cattle prices have been record-setting over the last year,” said Executive Director of the Washington Beef Commission Jackie Madill. Executive Vice-President of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association Chelsea Hajny said those good prices follow a few years of bad prices. “The past few years, the cattle market has been fairly depressed. And prices have been low, coupled with really high input costs – feed, fuel, just the cost of running a business. It’s expensive,” Hajny said. “There’s not been a lot of meat on the bone for the cattle rancher. And so, yeah, this market has been a welcome relief.”