Oklahoma’s cattle industry is on legislators’ radars. Tuesday, the Senate approved House Bill 2008, which deals with the processing of beef. It would make it so ranchers would sell their livestock to be processed in the state rather than shipping it off.
Processing facilities across the country are shutting down, leaving ranchers with fewer places to send cattle. This is because of the virus. It is putting a strong strain on meat packing plants. The ones that are still open are not buying as much meat as they normally would.
“Well, what that’s done is backup all the beef that was ready," Rep. Justin Humphrey said. "So, the prices of beef has dramatically dropped, and that’s what we’ve seen with the price of retail beef. So, the price of the supermarket has increased.”
Humphrey said he is a rancher himself and hopes to bring beef packing to Oklahoma, which would create more jobs.
The next step in the legislative process is for the bill to be heard by the House.
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