Beef prices at an all-time high, as Texas restaurant owners try to stay afloat

MANVEL, Texas (KTRK) -- Beef prices, like many other things, are up across the country.

In Texas, that means many restaurants that focus on beef and BBQ are having to navigate the shifting market.

Experts say beef prices are the highest they've ever seen. In addition, experts say we are now seeing fewer cattle on the ground across the country than in the last seven decades.

"The herd --- we're at a 75-year low, and the demand hasn't changed, but the herd population has, and a lot of it has to do with the drought situation," Black Star Wagyu Ranch owner Tom Laird said.

Laird has acres of beautiful green pasture in Manvel for as far as the eye can see as he raises his farm-to-table cattle.

"There's just a lot of small family ranches in the state of Texas," Laird said.

ABC13 spoke to people who say beef and BBQ are in the DNA of Texas.

"It's a way of life," said Roegels BBQ's Russell Roegels.

Some say the increase in beef prices is concerning, as pitmasters like Roegels say they are paying $6.55 per pound for prime-grade brisket.

Roegels says he was paying less than $5 just three months ago.

"I've had friends who lost their restaurants because of it, where they weren't making enough to keep the doors open. But it's a fear for me on a daily basis," Roegels said.

"I think we're at a point where these are the highest prices we've ever seen," extension meats specialist Davey Griffin said.

Griffin says the core of the issue is several factors, including the high demand for beef, the drought, and people having to rebuild their herds, which takes time.

"We've had droughts over the last few years; people have had to sell off their cattle...now that we've got some rain they're trying to build the herd," Ray Law with Law Ranch and Cattle said. "And it's going to be high for four or five years because you can't rebuild a cattle herd overnight."

And similarly to a rotisserie BBQ pit, Griffin says it's all a cycle.

Roegels hopes prices never reach seven dollars a pound. In the meantime hopes people support local BBQ restaurants.

"All I would ask is my customers, and customers of every other barbecue place out there, support your local barbecue joint. We want them to eat pork. We want them to eat chicken. We want them to eat turkey. But brisket is Texas barbecue. That's just what defines Texas barbecue," Roegels said.