Email 4 of Six of Cunningham Ranch Six Week Email Series: Why Beef Prices are Skyrocketing Nationwide - by Liz Cunningham

Email 4:  It's not the Cow it's the How!

To the Families We Serve,

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been walking through the real stories shaping America’s beef supply. From retiring ranchers and shrinking herds to the return of the New World Screwworm.

This week, we turn to one of the biggest and least understood challenges facing ranchers in the West: federal land management.

Recap from previous weeks:

• An aging farming community colliding with a retirement wave of ranchers, 
• The largest land-ownership transfer in U.S. history, and how fewer hands are available to keep cattle on the range. 
• An industry that prioritizes mass production without considering the implications of the negative impacts on fertility to sustain a healthy herd. 
• The re-emergence of New World Screwworm is impacting the cattle market, tightening the supply. 
  

We also reminded our readers that this is a conversation worth having at your dinner table, because what happens on the ranch affects what ends up on your plate.

Scroll down to read more about how the Bureau of Land Management and Ranchers clash on how to manage federal lands.

🐄 It’s Not the Cow — It’s the How!

In the Western United States, most grazing lands are owned by the federal government — vast rangelands managed through agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service.

For families like ours, whose roots in the high desert go back generations, these lands are our lifeblood. Our grazing permits allow us to raise cattle on this land, helping sustain both the animals and the ecosystem.

Did you Know? Grazing allotments are measured in Animal Unit Months (AUMs), or the amount of forage one cow and calf need per month — An AUM, or Animal Unit Month, is the standard measurement used by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 

Since the 1940's most AUM's have been reduced by 30%-50% across the western United States.

But here’s the tension:

Some say cattle are harmful to these high-desert environments.

We say — and decades of stewardship prove — it’s not the cow, it’s the how.

🌾 How Grazing Got Complicated

In the early 1900s, before federal regulation, ranchers and homesteaders frequently clashed over grazing land, leading to range wars and disputes over grazing rights. Overgrazing occurred because the land was basically open to whoever grazed first. By the 1930s, the BLM was established to regulate grazing permissions and management.

In the 1960s, fencing standards changed, grazing allotments (AUMs) decreased, and federal restrictions became stricter.

The goal was to heal the land from overgrazing — a noble effort — but the pendulum swung too far. With fewer cattle allowed to graze, the grass and brush grew thick and tall, creating massive fuel loads that spark catastrophic fires we now see every year across the West.

🔥 The Irony of “Protection”

When grazing is limited or completely shut off, dead grass and brush accumulate. In the high desert, there isn't enough snow, rain, or wildlife to naturally trim or graze the grasses and control vegetation. Fire acts as nature's way of clearing overgrowth—unless cattle are properly managed to graze the land and help decrease these fire-prone plants.

Meanwhile, ranchers — the people who live on and care for this land every day — are sidelined. Bureaucratic oversight replaces common sense, and there are limitations on how cattle and ranch animals can play an important role in maintaining these lands with proper stewardship.  

It’s a system where millions are spent fighting fire instead of allowing managed grazing that could prevent these catastrophic fires in the first place.

🧭 A Smarter Way Forward

Here at Cunningham Ranch, we’re not just talking about it — we’re part of the solution.

We’re currently participating in a 10-year Oregon State University study that measures how rotational, managed grazing can reduce fuel loads, improve soil health, and support wildlife habitats.

And guess what?  It’s working.

The results are clear: managed cattle grazing creates balance. for the land, the cattle, and the communities that depend on both.

💚 Why This Matters

When we say “Food You Can Trust,” it’s not just about what’s on your plate — it’s about how that food came to be.

Every ribeye, roast, and burger from Cunningham Pastured Meats is part of a story rooted in stewardship — caring for the land so it can care for us.

That’s something worth protecting. 

That’s something worth talking about — around every dinner table.

👀 Next Week: The Big Four in Week five of our series

Next week, we’ll dig into one of the most powerful forces shaping beef prices today — the Big Four packers who control over 85% of the U.S. beef supply chain — and how that monopoly affects ranchers, rural economies, and your dinner plate.

Until then, thank you for standing with us — for learning, sharing, and supporting real ranching families who believe food should always come from a place of integrity.

In the meantime, we stand by our promises: 

 ✅ No price hikes in 2025
 ✅ No shortcuts in feed or finishing
 ✅ No compromise on what “Meat You Can Trust” means

Take me to Week 5 of the Series: Monopolies in the Cattle Industry and Big Butchers 

Email 5 of Six in the Series