The cattle ranching industry is a very dynamic industry. The size of the U.S. cow herd and composition of the herd, ie. Ratio of replacement heifers to older cows and the ratio of heifers to steers slaughtered, is over time and there appears to be a cyclical component to these price movements. The historical pattern has been to have two or three years of relatively high prices, followed by four to six years of relatively low prices.