USDA: No payment for heifer retention

In USDA’s news release announcing the detection of the new world screwworm further north than ever before (70 miles south of the US-Mexico border), a surprising topic was addressed.

The USDA news release teased a “plan” to grow the U.S. cattle herd.

“In addition, USDA will soon release a significant plan to help rebuild the American cattle supply, incentivizing our great ranchers, and driving a full-scale revitalization of the American beef industry. This is only the beginning with many more announcements coming this week as USDA restores American strength, protects food security, and supports America’s ranchers and farmers,” said the Sept. 21, 2025, USDA news release.

Rumors swirled on social media platforms with many people assuming that USDA would reveal a plan to pay cattle owners to retain heifers.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins addressed this rumor on Sept. 25, 2025, at a presentation at the Ag Outlook forum in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

USDA plans to announce “a new cattle business strategy” in mid-October, said Secretary Rollins, but stressed that the plan does include payments to beef producers.
“There’s been a lot of speculation about this in the news in the last couple of days, we have no current plans to offer any payment to beef producers. We see how the government getting involved can completely distort the markets. And so currently, there will be no plan — no plan is even under consideration — to insert ourselves through payments into the beef cattle industry,” said Rollins.

“Since 2017, the U.S. has lost over 17 percent of our cattle ranches. Over the last decade, the industry has seen a total decline of 150,000 operations, as much of this has been off-shored, much of this has been consolidated, much of it with foreign-owned businesses. And now it’s time to take a different road,” she said.

While the cattle inventory is low, Americans continue to eat more beef, she said.

Low inventory and high demand is not sustainable if we wish to be a country that feeds ourselves, she said.

Short- and long-term solutions are being discussed, she said “we are developing a robust plan to revitalize and diversify the U.S. beef industry,” she said.

“We will provide more details at a rollout in mid-October alongside (Department of the Interior) Secretary Doug Burgum,” she said.

“Our plan will focus on opening up more working lands, expanding our risk mitigation tools and hopefully inspiring the next generation of farmers who hold the future of this great nation in their hands,” she said.