America’s Food Chain ‘Cows will need bred’: Coronavirus is hitting the meat industry all the way up to animal breeders

Kentucky cattle farmer Joe Lowe would normally drive potential bull buyers to his pastures in his own truck, perhaps suggesting lunch afterward to talk business. Buyers now ride separately, if they come at all. Others simply phone in their orders. “Everybody’s just a little on edge, no matter what industry you’re in,” Lowe says. With meat plants shutting down across the nation because of growing COVID-19 infections among workers, the ripple effect is being felt all the way up the food supply chain, with some farmers delaying the purchase of bulls for breeding – something that could affect the food supply in years to come. Kentucky produces more cattle annually – 1,000,000 head – than any state east of the Mississippi River. And farmers here take their bull purchases very seriously. Lowe should know. His family has been raising cattle near western Kentucky’s Barren River since 1799, when Kentucky was still the frontier. These days, they breed Angus cattle. From a herd of about 400, they sell about 100 Angus bulls, among the most of any farm in the state. Farmers buy the Lowes’ bulls and heifers to breed with their other animals before eventually selling the resulting calves to be fattened for slaughter. In other words, the Lowes’ animals sit at the apex of the meat supply chain. Just as there’s no meat in grocery stores without slaughterhouses, there are no calves to enter the supply chain without bulls...MORE