The price of beef: Rising markets and shrinking herds

While cattle ranchers breathe a sigh of relief (and sometimes, celebration) over increases in cattle prices, the concern over the decreasing size of America’s cattle herd lingers.

“This is a bad situation for America’s cattle farmers and America because we’re producing 1 billion pounds less beef than we were in this country just a year ago,” John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, said Thursday on Fox & Friends First.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, beef cattle inventories have dropped to 28.2 million this year — the lowest since the 1970s and down...