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Increased beef imports boosting freezer beef demand

A southern Wisconsin producer says talk of increased beef imports have been good for his freezer beef business.

Doug Rebout, who raises corn, soybeans, and cattle in Rock County, tells Brownfield, “That part of our market has picked up here recently.”  He says, “I get a lot of calls from people that just heard about us through friends and stuff, and we’re getting scheduled out quite a ways with that market.”

He says the increased demand makes it tempting to expand his 100-head herd, however…

“Where we don’t have the dairy cows to raise our own, buying the feeders gets expensive, so to increase, that’s not something that we’re really looking at right now,” he says.

Rebout says high retail beef prices are being reflected in the freezer beef market in his area, but there’s been no slowdown in demand.

AUDIO: Doug Rebout – Wisconsin farmer