If you really want to rebuild America’s cow herd, go where the cows are and listen to the people who own them.

If rebuilding the U.S. cow herd is a national objective, sustaining the people and businesses that maintain it must be part of that objective.

The tornado uprooted trees, broke trees in half and laid them across whole streets, pulled power lines off of houses, laid power lines and their poles onto the road, ruined many acres of corn and put tree branches into house roofs — just to name a few.

As always, stay safe in the fields and on the roads.

The fair season was a wonderful time.

The president’s plan to facilitate record imports of beef will have a significant impact on farmers and ranchers who are rebuilding their herds devastated by drought, reports Jim Henry.

Nothing sells better than bad news it seems. But consumers still want to buy the beef we have.

My friends in town often ask me what I think of the beef market. They just don’t grasp what it takes to be successful in the cattle industry.

Fall calving is starting to kick into a higher gear. We are at the time where the majority of the herd should starting dropping babies.

Hauling water across rugged landscapes has become a daily chore for many ranchers in the U.S. Rockies.

A Federal Reserve survey found agriculture conditions across the Corn Belt improved slightly, but generally remained strained.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition wrapped up the 2026 Heart of America Grazing Conference by recognizing three Illinois producers with the Master Grazier Award: Rick Adams, Terry Becherer and Perry Hottes.

The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition will host two Grazing Schools this September, giving producers across the state hands-on, practical instruction to help them implement and expand managed grazing on their own operations.

Higher values strengthen farm balance sheets and provide landowners with additional equity and collateral, but they also raise the cost of buying, renting and expanding an operation.

Total cattle inventory increased slightly for the first time since 2018, but the beef cow herd fell to 28.5 million head — a record low, indicating herd rebuilding remains limited, reports Jim Henry.

Register early for the best rates and housing selection for CattleCon 2027.

Indiana Pork and Indiana Beef teamed up to help Hoosiers impacted by recent devastating floods in central Indiana.

Members of the first-place winners of the 2026 Legacy Farm Family Award are involved with farming operations located in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Content-creating moms and their families from the Chicagoland area visited farms to learn directly from farmers about how they raise livestock and grow crops on their operations.

Attempts to lower grocery costs should not come at the expense of the ranchers working to strengthen America’s food supply.

The largest packers are reconfiguring their business models to emphasize a greater reliance on imports and deemphasize their historical reliance on domestic slaughter.

Overall agricultural conditions in the Corn Belt continue to be dampened by lower commodity prices, higher input costs and tighter credit.

We’re witnessing a radical restructuring where the downstream beef industry intersects with the upstream cattle industry.

Farmland values in the Midwest were flat in the second quarter of 2026 compared to a year ago, according to a 7th Federal Reserve District report.

Fed cattle prices are near record highs. So, why aren’t cattle finishers necessarily making record profits?

Chad Bell takes samples of his corn and soybeans plants each week throughout the growing season to get a better idea of the fertility that the plants are utilizing to produce grain.

Illinois Stewardship Alliance presented two awards recognizing outstanding farmer leaders for their contribution to sustainable and local agriculture in Illinois.

The Great Protein Pivot isn’t about giving up food we enjoy. It’s about changing the proportions and making every delicious dollar pull its weight.

Silage harvest is a busy time and brings with it potential hazards that can cause injury or death.

There are times when it seems like agriculture just can’t catch a break. This is one of those times.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s career as a venture capitalist and philanthropist from Chicago seems far-removed from agriculture, yet they parallel one another, according to the two-term governor.

President Donald Trump announced on his social media account he is suspending import tariffs quotas on ground beef for three months.

Public lands offer quality grazing grounds for livestock, which in turn reduces wildfire risk and contributes to the vitality of rural communities across the West.

What makes a state fair so unique is it provides multiple, wide-ranging experiences within the same day.

For over two decades, Wayne and Jamie Keller have been sponsors of the Du Quoin State Fair Junior Livestock Show.

It has not been verified, but Dave Kestel’s blood may run red, white and blue.

One of the most consequential actions during the markup of the farm bill was the Senate Agriculture Committee vote on an amendment addressing mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef.

Toby Behrends of Sheffield was named Grand Champion Overall Master Showman during the 2026 Illinois State Fair Master Showmanship Contest.

The 2026 4-H Grand Drive, presented by Farm Credit Mid-America, shined the spotlight on the top 4-H exhibitors in Indiana.

The Tyson beef processing plant closure at nearby Joslin was an unpleasant surprise. Now most local cattle sold will be discounted the freight cost to go to more distant plants — a consequence of low beef supply.

Tyson Foods announced the closure of three beef processing facilities, including the 3,000-head-per-day slaughtering plant in Joslin in northwestern Illinois.

I hosted the Regenerative Grazing System Contest for youth along with my close partner, Judy Bingman, and several of our Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition board members.

The heat and humidity this summer has been hard on feeding cattle and at least one somewhat-round cattle feeder.

Many years we see things brown and drying up and grass getting short, but that is just not the case this year.

Dennis Neuhaus was elected the new board president of Growmark during the cooperative’s annual meeting.

Sometimes shared goals outside of agriculture can lead to opportunities that we could never have imagined.

Farmers across the Midwest are dealing with a new problem — black vultures are attacking livestock. This scavenger species didn't live in the area previously; however, warming temperatures have expanded its range.

Improving soil by increasing the biology results in more minerals in the feed grown on that land and fewer supplements necessary for the cattle that eat the feed.

Utilizing corn stalks for winter grazing is an option for cattlemen to impact their profitability.

The Beef Quality Assurance program has launched a wide range of Spanish-language resources.