I believe there is a strong possibility that, if grain prices stay high and all of the other factors I mentioned continue on the same path for a few years, that "corn-fed beef" will become a niche market. Feeders cannot continue to lose money year after year. Ranchers cannot afford to be paid even less for calves that have no place to go but a feed yard. Packers, like all other large businesses, will continue to want to be profitable. So, what's an industry to do? If corn-fed beef continues to be offered to consumers, then the price will have to go up which will push it more and more to the niche status. And maybe that's okay if other types of beef are being offered more and more for those who can't pay the price for the corn-fed beef, especially if the other types continue to improve.
The question is, who is going to produce "the other beef?" If U.S. ranchers cannot figure out how to do that, then "the other beef" will come from places like Brazil where the beef industry is still expanding.
I believe there will be fewer U.S. ranchers 10 years from now, but I also believe that many of those remaining will be figuring out how to do what they need to do to keep going in the industry. More than one rancher has already bought into ranching operations in Brazil. How far are you willing to go to stay in the industry?