Drought, rising costs and beef import pressures squeeze Wyoming ranchers
"It's been a year that I hope we never do it again," said Lander Nicodemus, owner of Torrington Livestock Markets, which auctions about 450,000 head of cattle each year.
Updated on: September 7, 2026 / 3:15 PM EDT / CBS News
Wyoming ranchers already contending with drought, rising costs and scarce land have faced uncertainty following President Trump's 90-day waiver of higher tariffs on some ground beef imports .
"This announcement came out, we had a 10% drop in the value of cattle overnight," Mark Eisele, who raises nearly 1,500 head of cattle outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, told CBS News. "If that was in any other market, it would be earth-shattering. We're going to have to absorb that."
Cattle futures fell sharply following Mr. Trump's announcement on Aug. 21 that the U.S. would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the country for the next 90 days with "no out-of-quota tariff." That put a pause on higher tariffs, which are triggered when trade volume surpasses a certain quota, according to the World Trade Organization.
Cattle futures have since largely recovered, closing Friday about 2% lower than when Mr. Trump made his announcement.
With U.S. beef prices at nearly $7 a pound, up from $2.93 a pound in 2021, the White House said that temporarily expanding imports would lower beef costs for consumers.