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LA GRANGE, TEXAS — Along the bends of Highway 71, a string of steady Texas towns dot the wind-swept pastures. It’s here where most folks earn a living with their hands, wear dust on their boots, sun on their skin and easy smiles on their faces.
This is the soft edge of the Hill Country, where limestone gives way to red dirt and family ranches stitch the land together. Folks here haul their own hay, do things right the first time and don’t wait for daylight to start the day.
Among those who know the grind is Cole Bolton, owner of K&C Cattle Company, who welcomes the Trump administration’s renewed focus on the razor-thin margins ranchers have endured for years.
“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.
A photo of Cole Bolton and his wife in Texas. (Courtesy of Cole Bolton)
Known as the “big four,” Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef anchor the U.S. beef supply chain, commanding pricing power that reaches from pasture to plate.
Combined, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.
AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH
And those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”
Cattle rancher Brad Randel rounds up some of his black angus cattle to sell at auction. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
It’s the kind of sustained financial strain that federal officials say could signal deeper problems in the supply chain.
The revelation comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing food supply chain security task forces within the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address risks from price fixing and anti-competitive behavior.
TRUMP’S BEEF IMPORT PLAN IGNORES KEY ISSUE SQUEEZING AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHERS
“My administration will act to determine whether anti-competitive behavior, especially by foreign-controlled companies, increases the cost of living for Americans and address any associated national security threat to food supply chains,” Trump said in the order released on Saturday.
According to the order, the attorney general and the FTC chairman may bring enforcement actions or propose new regulatory measures if the investigation uncovers anti-competitive behavior.
The federal probe announced by President Donald Trump did not specifically name companies in the meat-packing industry. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
In a related move, the Trump administration called on the Justice Department to investigate the major meatpacking companies, accusing them of driving up beef prices through “illicit collusion, price fixing and price manipulation.”
The probe did not identify any targets.
BEEF PRICES ARE CLOSE TO RECORD HIGHS — BUT AMERICANS AREN’T CUTTING BACK
Meanwhile, beef prices have climbed to record highs.
According to USDA data, the average price of beef in grocery stores climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $9.18 per pound by August 2025, a roughly 9% increase over that period. Despite that rise, beef demand continues to hit new highs.
But that strong appetite comes as ranchers are contending with the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 70 years.
Years of punishing drought, rising costs and an aging ranching workforce have thinned herds across the country. Ranchers and agricultural economists alike say rebuilding will take years, and beef prices aren’t likely to ease anytime soon.
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Cattle graze on a ranch in Texas on November 14, 2025. (Amanda Macias/Fox News Digital)
“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the cattle industry has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme conditions, over the past five years.
