Local Beef Industry Struggling

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Story Published: May 15, 2009 at 5:17 PM PDT

By Audrey Asistio

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ELLENSBURG -- Russ Stingley has been in the cattle business his entire life. In 2007, Kittitas County named him "Cattleman of the Year." But his company is at a slump. He says business is at it's worst.

Stingley tells Action News, "When it gets down to working at a loss, then you could only do that so long. Something has to change."

For Stingley to break even, his Angus beef would have to sell for 95-cents a pound. Right now, it is only selling for 83-cents. So he is finding other ways to make up for the loss. He explained, "From vaccines, to haul our own cattle, haul our own hay and stuff like that. But you know, there comes a point where there's no more to cut, your at the bottom pretty much."

But it isn't all doom and gloom for Stingley. He says he still loves his job and still takes pride in what he considers the best food in the world.

"You know, it's worth it, if we could pass it on to our kids and grand kids," Stingley said. It is another business fighting the everyday battle, through these hard economic times.

Stingley says one of the main reasons cattle businesses are struggling is because of the price of hay. He says it has doubled since last year. Now they cost about $200 a ton.

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