Most Pennsylvania beef farms are small, but industry experts see room for the state to grow its cattle business.
According to the Pennsylvania Beef Council, 70% of beef producers in the state have 50 head or fewer, and more than half of the farms are cow-calf operations.
Hannah Zundel-Walters, director of production education and engagement for the council, said it’s possible that Pennsylvania could one day rival the beef production of the traditional cattle states in the Midwest, and the numbers show the Keystone State is on the right track.
“Pennsylvania ranks 19th for cow-calf numbers, and it’s the top cattle-producing state in the Northeast,” she said. “I certainly think there’s room for growth.”
Lancaster County leads the way in beef production in Pennsylvania, but a significant amount of growth has occurred in Washington County and even across the northern tier, Zundel-Walters said.
Southwestern Pennsylvania benefits from an abundance of pasture — key for cow-calf operations.
Larisa Miller, president and CEO of Keystone Farm Future, likened the pastures of the southwest region to top grazing states such as Virginia and the Carolinas. She sees no reason that beef cattle numbers can’t scale up in Pennsylvania with established sources for cattle, processors and outlets for farmers to sell their finished animals.
“We should be a full beef state, and we have all the ingredients to take it from cow-calf to the end product,” she said.
In 2021, Miller’s company helped launch a network of farmers selling directly to the Mechanicsburg-based grocery chain Karns Quality Foods.
Though Pennsylvania has room for growth, Tara Felix, a beef specialist with Penn State Extension, cautioned against expectations that Pennsylvania can become a “top-producing” beef state.
“We don’t have the land and feed commodities to put nearly the cattle on feed that Texas and Nebraska have,” she said.
Pennsylvania’s high land values also make input costs higher than other states, and the state’s topography and climate aren’t conducive to big numbers of beef cattle.
“A big part of what holds us back is environment. The majority of cattle raised in the U.S. are raised in states or regions with minimal precipitation,” Felix said. “Mud and large groups of cattle do not mesh well.”
Miller agreed that mountainous Pennsylvania’s doesn’t lend itself to Midwest-style feeder cattle operations.
But she sees Pennsylvania’s strength as the sheer number of producers, especially those at small scale.
Add in the increasing number of dairy farmers transitioning to beef, she said, and Pennsylvania can capitalize by redesigning the beef production model.
“We need to utilize the spaces we do have. The rolling pastures in western Pennsylvania are great for cow-calf operations, and the former dairy farms with existing infrastructure in the northern tier can be the place to finish those feeders,” Miller said.
Cow-calf operations are crucial not only to expanding beef production in Pennsylvania, but also to making the circle complete, said Michelle Kirk, executive assistant with the Center for Beef Excellence.
Cow-calf farms provide the cattle used in feedlots and finishing operations. So if breeding operations thrive in the state, feeding operations can keep their supply chain in state.
“The large processors in the state have mentioned they would much rather purchase animals from Pennsylvania instead of trucking them in from out west,” Kirk said. “There is room for growth in all areas.”
For the industry to grow, new farmers will need to see beef as a profitable enterprise they can afford to enter.
Demand far outstrips the funding from grant programs that help farmers develop new infrastructure. Land costs are a challenge to both new beef producers and existing ones who would like to expand, Kirk said.
Aside from infrastructure and land, simply purchasing beef cattle to start a herd represents an enormous investment.
“Until you have cattle in the pipeline, there is a lot of red in the ledger to get started,” she said.
The profit margin per head is approximately $100, Felix said.
Infrastructure challenges aren’t limited to barns. Farms also need nearby feed mills and adequate roads for transportation, Felix said.
Farmers also need options for selling their finished cattle, especially for direct sales for freezer beef.
Source: lancasterfarming.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-pamwalker68
Categories: Pennsylvania, Business, Livestock, Beef Cattle, Dairy Cattle