Why Wisconsin Beef Costs So Much, And Why Shoppers Still Pay It
A UW economist and a century-old butcher shop explain the forces behind record beef prices.
Ground beef. Photo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Public domain)
The price for a pound of beef in Wisconsin and nationwide has hit record highs. A Wisconsin professor and a longtime butcher shop owner say the cause dates back years.
The average price for a pound of beef reached $9.64 last month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Steak is up roughly 16 percent year-over-year and ground beef is up more than 14 percent from April 2025 according to April’s Consumer Price Index report.
Brenda Boetel is professor and department chair of agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that rising beef costs are because of smaller herds nationwide, tied to years of drought.
“We haven’t been able to grow the cattle herd in the United States,” Boetel said. “When we have drought, we have higher feed costs, we have higher costs all around. That makes it harder to expand.”
Despite record-high costs for beef, demand for the protein has also remained high. Meat sales rang up nearly $112 billion last year, according to a report from the Food Industry Association and the Meat Institute. And an analysis from the Livestock Marketing Information Center found demand for beef last year hit the highest level in at least 25 years.
Boetel said the United States has a cultural bias towards beef.
“Beef is one of those things — especially hamburger — where it’s easy to put in. It’s a protein, it’s flavorful and it just has a reputation,” Boetel said. “We just like our beef in the United States.”
Dan Weber is the owner of Weber Meats in Cuba City, a butcher that was first established in 1905. Weber told “Wisconsin Today” his customers have not moved to cheaper proteins like chicken or turkey.
“We’re in a beef area … I’ve tried everything, trying to promote ground pork and ground turkey,” Weber said. “Overall they just want their beef.”
Nearly 13,000 farms in Wisconsin are active in some form of beef production. But the state is dominated by smaller-scale operations, with a University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension analysis finding nearly two-thirds of beef farms had fewer than 20 head of cattle in 2022.
“What sets Wisconsin back a lot — and this is true for much of the country — is basically the age of the producer,” Boetel said. “ The average age of (a beef farmer) is getting higher and higher, and it’s hard to break into this business … purchasing and starting a herd is incredibly expensive right now.”
Boetel estimates that beef prices may remain high for several years, at minimum, as beef farmers hold heifers back to breed more calves.
“Because they’re going to be having calves, that decreases the production more … that basically says it’s going to be a minimum of two years before we see more beef being produced in the United States.”
Weber said he is curious if demand for beef will remain high.
“This is going to be an interesting summer to see how far this market’s going to go and how strong the demand will stay, if this price still keeps creeping up and creeping up,” he said.
Wisconsin sees record-high beef prices alongside high demand was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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