When asked what they think about climbing prices for beef and feeder calves, just under 39 percent said “prices are too low” to create the profits necessary to pay for feed and other expenses.

Another 32 percent said “prices are just right” and help balance out years when prices were too low for beef and calves.

Another 29 percent said “prices are too high” and could alienate the consumer base and push them to other proteins.

Market analysts have forecast that 2013 prices may continue to jump higher at the retail level, as a reflection of prices for $7.30 for a bushel of corn, and $136 per cwt for feeder cattle.

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Be sure to vote in the next online poll, which asks how readers feel about USDA’s sequester cuts affecting meat inspection furloughs.  end mark