Why America's Cattle Ranchers Keep Getting Squeezed

Odd Lots

Bloomberg

News, Investing, Business, News Commentary, Business News

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The country's cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest size in decades and beef prices have been soaring this year, with hamburgers and steaks becoming the latest flashpoints in the political debate over higher food prices. In this episode, we untangle the roots of declining domestic beef supply — from drought and surging feed costs to the lasting impact of consolidation in the meatpacking industry. We speak with Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, a trade association for independent cattle ranchers, about the forces shrinking America's cattle industry and what can be done about it. (Editor's Note: This episode was recorded Oct. 30)

Subscribe to the Odd Lots Newsletter
Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots

Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're being sold an AI future where you're obsolete or irrelevant.
0:04.0	That vision is wrong.
0:06.0	At Palantir, they're building AI that helps workers and unlocks their full potential.
0:12.0	American workers are our nation's greatest strength.
0:16.0	AI shouldn't eliminate them. It should elevate them.
0:19.0	Palantir is here to tell their stories. From factories
0:23.0	to hospitals, AI is freeing people from drudgery, letting them do what humans do best. Create, solve,
0:31.0	build. Palantir, making Americans irreplaceable. You can get the news whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Amy Morris.
0:40.9	And I'm Karen Moscow here to tell you about our new on-demand news report delivered right to your
0:46.0	podcast feed. Bloomberg News Now is a short five-minute audio report on the day's top stories.
0:52.5	Episodes are published throughout the day with the latest
0:54.7	information and data to keep you informed. Yes, there are other products like this from a variety
1:00.4	of news organizations, but they usually rerun their radio newscasts throughout the day. That's not what we do.
1:07.7	We create customized episodes that can only be heard on Bloomberg News Now.
1:12.6	And we don't wait an hour to publish breaking news. When news breaks, we'll have an episode
1:16.4	up in your podcast feed within minutes. So you're always getting the latest stories and
1:21.2	developments. Get the reporting and the context from Bloomberg's 3,000 journalists and
1:26.1	analysts we're all over the world.
1:28.1	Listen to the latest from Bloomberg News Now on Apple,
1:31.4	Spotify, or anywhere you listen.
1:36.5	Bloomberg Audio Studios,
1:38.9	Podcasts, Radio News.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 5 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bloomberg, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bloomberg and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.