MEAD, Neb. —

If you like beef, you're paying more at checkout.

The average cost for a pound of beef in August was $6.63 in August, up 99 cents from a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. cattle population is as low as it's been in three-quarters of a century, University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant professor and Feedlot Extension specialist Jessica Sperber told KETV. Each weighs more, however.

She said that the population has decreased since 2019, in part due to drought, but has now become steady. The population hasn't begun to rebound.

Sperber said total beef production decreased more this summer after the USDA closed the border to cattle from Mexico. The USDA says that's part of its effort to prevent the spread of a threat to cattle, the New World Sc

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