MANDAN, N.D. — North Dakota rancher August Heupel has yet to sell any of the beef calves he has raised this year, so far avoiding the recent drop in prices that was fueled in part by comments from President Donald Trump on importing beef.

Heupel is hopeful that prices will stabilize and the industry can continue to grow.

“Fundamentally, things have not changed one bit,” Heupel said. “There’s still strong demand, and there’s still low cattle numbers.”

Cattle prices had been at record highs in October when Trump signaled he was in favor of beef imports from Argentina to lower beef prices for consumers. That sent cattle futures markets tumbling, in turn taking down live cattle prices at sale barns in North Dakota and elsewhere.

“It feels like the sky is done falling,” said Heupel, who ran

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