Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls for herd expansion while producers face drought concerns and grazing challenges affecting rebuilding decisions.

Raney Rapp,Senior Staff Writer, Delta Farm Press

February 17, 2026

4 Min Read

CALL TO ACTION: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left), U.S. secretary of health and human services, and Buck Wehrbein, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, discuss herd rebuilding and beef demand during CattleCon 2026 in in Nashville, Tenn.NCBA

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. secretary of health and human services, eats beef at least twice daily. To support such beef consumption and to lower grocery prices, he asked farmers and ranchers to build up the beef supply. And he’s willing to beg for it.

“The message that I give to beef producers is begging you to increase the size of the herds. We had 130.2 million head in 1972, and we have 92 million today,” Kennedy said. “We need a lot of beef. We want to make it here in America. We don’t want to be importing it from other countries.”

The message was buried in the myriad of other talking points that Kennedy brought to beef producers at the annual National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in Nashville, Tenn.

From admitting to taking health advice from YouTube to saving a few extra pennies on the GasBuddy app, the number of topics discussed did not diminish the impact that the updated nutrition guidelines and food pyramid will have on animal protein demand, and beef demand in the U.S.

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“The Make America Healthy Again movement and the MAHA moms … gave voice to a section of nutrition research that may not have been getting amplified enough,” said Shalene McNeill, NCBA executive director of nutrition science health and wellness. “I think our research was bundled into that point of view, and it was helpful to bring back the discussion, to get a little more attention against ultraprocessed food. That benefits beef because it’s a fresh, real food.”

Hungry for beef

Consumers in the U.S. had an average beef expenditure of $400 per unit or per person according to 2024, a 30% increase over data recorded the year prior and a 50% higher expenditure compared to any other animal-based protein in the U.S., according to David Friedlander, NCBA senior director of market research. 

“I think this is a great lead in what we’re seeing in the retail meat case, because we sold almost 80 billion pounds from the total value standpoint,” he said.

The story for beef demand and cattle prices reached phenomenal heights in 2025 against the odds of seasonal challenges, high input prices and cattle consolidation conditions — but it was not enough.

“I know herd numbers don’t tell the whole story,” Kennedy said. “But we’re doing everything we can to encourage people to increase the size of the herds in this country. You can’t do that overnight. It takes 18 months or more before we start seeing that at the grocery store.”

Kennedy placed the blame for cattle consolidation on beef producers, saying market uncertainty and prices led to the slaughtering of breeding animals. He asked them to “stop that.” However, it’s not that simple. 

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Producer survey

Terrain analyst Dave Weber conducted a survey in conjunction with Farm Credit of over 1,000 beef producers in 28 states in the U.S. The top question was, “Are you considering herd rebuilding, and if not, why? 

The No. 1 answer across all producers was not price, market uncertainty or producer age. 

“Solidly, the No. 1 was grazing conditions. About a third of producers ranked that No. 1. It’s a really highly important thing,” Weber said. “Drought forecast was No. 2. So as we look at this impending El Niño and the changes we’ve got coming, drought emerging in the Southern Plains, those factors are highly important to producers. And then it’s not surprising No. 3 was pasture availability.”

Of producers who answered the survey and increased their cattle numbers in 2025, the increase came at a rate of about 13%, an average start to herd rebuilding, Weber said. Of those producers, about 50% grew their herd with heifers and 50% grew their herd with mature cows, which would already be counted in current cow herd inventories. 

BEEF DEMAND GAINS: Kennedy and Wehrbein celebrated record beef demand and optimism for the cattle industry. (Raney Rapp)

At the end of the day, reasons for rebuilding are deeply personal to producers, and price or panic are not always the factors encouraging or deterring cattle producers.

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“There’s a plethora of reasons to rebuild. What’s going on with drought? What’s going on with grazing resources, land, forage availability, producer age, price,” Weber said. “I was concerned that either producers thought beef replacement heifers were too high, or calf prices were too low because for a decision of this magnitude for a ranch. That’s the same problem.”

Despite the difficulty in determining if the time is right for widespread cow herd expansion, beef prices and demand have told an encouraging story for producers. Gathering together in Music City to celebrate a banner year at CattleCon helped producers join together in their optimism for the coming year.

“I’m feeling great,” said Gene Copenhaver, the new NCBA president from Virginia. “It’s been a great week. Lot of enthusiasm. We’ve done a lot of things the last 30 to 40 years to build demand, and thanks to Secretary Kennedy and inverting of the food pyramid, I feel a lot better about demand than I did two weeks ago. We’ve done good, had a lot of wins this year. And I see a lot of potential for a lot of wins this coming year.”