Nov 5, 2026 · 6 min · 7 segments
Send us Fan Mail Today we start with a look at how beef-dairy crosses are impacting feedlot numbers, and where the uncertainty lands in the cattle…
Starting off in dairy with an article on dairyherd.com, beef on dairy cattle have become a much larger part of the U.S. beef supply chain over the past decade, growing from an estimated 13% of feed yard placements in 2016 to nearly 26% in 2025.
What started as a way to take advantage of a tight beef supply has grown into a substantial part of the industry.
Higher calf prices, more investment in raising calves, and stronger connections between dairy, feed yards, and processors have helped fuel that growth.
Yet gaps in market reporting make it difficult to measure the full impact on beef production and determine whether dairy producers are really receiving the best value from their breeding and marketing decisions.
Charlie Martinez is the director of the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, and he described how much the market has developed.
He says it's become more than just a substitution niche-style market, actually a more fully developed market.
To estimate beef on dairy's footprint, Martinez and graduate student Parker Wyatt analyzed USDA cattle inventory, cattle on feed, and fed cattle marketing data.
Their approach estimates beef on dairy numbers by starting with the dairy cow inventory, subtracting dairy replacement heifers, and accounting for straight-bred dairy cattle marketed during the year.
Using this method, they estimated the number of beef on dairy cattle in the supply chain grew from 2.8 million in 2016 to 5.4 million in 2025.
Over the same period, the share of total feed yard placements nearly doubled, climbing from 13% to 26%.
Martinez expects beef on dairy numbers to remain substantial even if the pace of growth slows.
Investment in the segment, continued demand from feed yards, and the availability of dairy origin calves all support an ongoing market.
Starting off in dairy with an article on dairyherd.com, beef on dairy cattle have become a much larger part of the U.S. beef supply chain over the past decade, growing from an estimated 13% of feed yard placements in 2016 to nearly 26% in 2025.
What started as a way to take advantage of a tight beef supply has grown into a substantial part of the industry.
Higher calf prices, more investment in raising calves, and stronger connections between dairy, feed yards, and processors have helped fuel that growth.
Yet gaps in market reporting make it difficult to measure the full impact on beef production and determine whether dairy producers are really receiving the best value from their breeding and marketing decisions.
Charlie Martinez is the director of the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management, and he described how much the market has developed.
He says it's become more than just a substitution niche-style market, actually a more fully developed market.
To estimate beef on dairy's footprint, Martinez and graduate student Parker Wyatt analyzed USDA cattle inventory, cattle on feed, and fed cattle marketing data.
Their approach estimates beef on dairy numbers by starting with the dairy cow inventory, subtracting dairy replacement heifers, and accounting for straight-bred dairy cattle marketed during the year.
Using this method, they estimated the number of beef on dairy cattle in the supply chain grew from 2.8 million in 2016 to 5.4 million in 2025.
Over the same period, the share of total feed yard placements nearly doubled, climbing from 13% to 26%.
Martinez expects beef on dairy numbers to remain substantial even if the pace of growth slows.
Investment in the segment, continued demand from feed yards, and the availability of dairy origin calves all support an ongoing market.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
