Contraction of the U.S. beef herd, driven by drought and wildfire, has brought stellar prices for cattle producers, and it isn’t over yet.

A 550-pound steer calf in 2024 brought about $300 a hundredweight. A 700- to 800-pound feeder steer was worth about $275 cwt., and a fed steer was worth about $180 cwt.

Those are prices in the Southern Plains, where most cattle in the U.S. are produced. Cattle in the western and northern U.S. generally receive a quality premium, said Brett Wilder, University of Idaho assistant professor and extension educator.

And those prices could go higher in 2025, he said during the university’s Ag Outlook seminar.

Long cycle

“You think about the cattle system, it’s a long cycle. From the time you breed a female to the time you put beef on a plate is almost a three-year wait,” he said

“So we should see a couple more years here of elevated prices,” he said.

The price expectation for 2025 is about $320 cwt. for a 550-pound steer calf in the Southern Plains and probably more like $340 cwt. in the West, he said.

That calf price also impacts the bred female price, he said.

CattleFax estimates the U.S. average bred heifer prices for 2023 were about $2,200 a head and about $2,800 a head in 2024. The