Beef Output Largest
In Past Two Decades

Beef output during the first half of 1996 is expected to be the largest since the industry’s all-time high in 1976, says the Kansas Beef Council.

KBC says production so far this year has generally run 20-40 million pounds per week above year-ago levels. Much of that increase during the first quarter was attributed to fed beef slaughter, but cow slaughter, up six percent year-to-date and expected to be up three percent for the year, was responsible for most of the second-quarter rise.

KBC says forecasts call for continued high beef production through July, a modest decline in August and September, then renewed increases for the fourth quarter.

The group cites a Cattle-Fax projection that the current production cycle will peak in the 1996-97 period and then decline from 1998 to the year 2000.