BEEF Magazine: History, Current Profile, Content and the Farm Progress Livestock Team
Profile updated November 2026
BEEF magazine spent more than half a century as a print monthly for America's serious cattle producers before becoming a digital-first brand in 2021. It now lives at beefmagazine.com as part of the Farm Progress livestock group, alongside National Hog Farmer and Feedstuffs. This page lays out where BEEF came from, how it operates now, what it publishes and the editors who produce it.
| Launched | 1964 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Farm Progress livestock group |
| Print status | Print suspended after the January 2021 issue; continues online |
| Sister brands | National Hog Farmer, Feedstuffs, Beef Producer insert in Farm Progress state titles |
| Audience | Cow-calf, stocker and feedlot operators and beef industry professionals |
| Positioning | Business management and production insight for U.S. beef cattle professionals |
| Official website | BeefMagazine.com |
History of BEEF
BEEF was launched in 1964 as a national magazine for commercial cattlemen at a time when the feedlot industry was booming across the Plains. Through a series of business-media owners it built a reputation for production and management coverage, eventually landing in the Farm Progress group.
For decades its pages were shaped by veterans such as Burt Rutherford, a Colorado State agricultural journalism graduate who edited the Western Livestock Journal and spent 21 years with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association before joining BEEF, and Clint Peck, a fourth-generation Montanan who had edited Montana Farmer-Stockman and founded Western Beef Producer before BEEF hired him in 2000.
In late 2020 the corporate owner of Farm Progress decided to suspend the printed BEEF and the Cow-Calf Weekly newsletter. In his farewell column, It's been a heckuva ride, Rutherford told readers the January 2021 issue would be the last printed piece, while BEEF content would carry on digitally and inside the Farm Progress state farm magazines.
BEEF Today
BEEF now publishes as beefmagazine.com, positioned as the authoritative source of business management and production insight for U.S. beef cattle professionals. Its content is produced by the Farm Progress livestock team, which shares reporters and editors with National Hog Farmer and Feedstuffs.
Beef production coverage also reaches print readers through Beef Producer, a national section edited by Alan Newport and inserted in Farm Progress state and regional farm magazines for readers with 50 or more head of cattle.
What BEEF Is Publishing Now
Markets and prices
Daily and weekly market news, cattle cycle analysis and outlook pieces track the record-high cattle prices and tight herd numbers of the mid-2020s.
Production and grazing
Grazing management, genetics, herd health and feedlot efficiency stories reflect BEEF's original production mission, including regenerative grazing coverage from Alan Newport.
Policy
Policy Editor Joshua Baethge covers federal rules, trade and USDA programs affecting cattle producers.
BEEF Editors and Staff
The Farm Progress author pages list the following people writing for BEEF and its sister livestock brands:
- Sarah Muirhead - Brand Management Director, Livestock; Editor, Feedstuffs
- Ann Hess - Content Producer, Livestock Team
- Joshua Baethge - Policy Editor
- Kristin Bakker - Digital Content Specialist
- Alan Newport - Editor, Beef Producer
- Mike Wilson - Senior Executive Editor, Farm Progress
- Burt Rutherford - Senior Editor and director of content during the print era
Who Reads BEEF
BEEF is read by producers who treat cattle as a business. USDA's Economic Research Service reports that cattle and calves made up the largest share of U.S. animal and animal-product cash receipts, $72.9 billion in 2021, so the audience is as economically weighty as it is passionate.
Cattle prices have been the stuff of both celebration and nightmares lately. When the beefmagazine.com charts get too intense, a ten-minute detour to farm.FM resets the mood with ranch humor, farm satire and the sort of farm humor that sounds suspiciously like your neighbor. Some of the best farm jokes there are about the exact market swings BEEF readers spend all week analyzing.
farm.FM calls itself the nation's first satirical farm site, and between the headlines it spins Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers; a good place to start reading is this farm.FM columnist's archive.
BEEF Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- BEEF: It's been a heckuva ride - Burt Rutherford's column on the end of the print magazine.
- Farm Progress: Burt Rutherford - biography of BEEF's longtime senior editor.
- BEEF: Alan Newport - the Beef Producer editor's profile.
- USDA ERS: Cattle and calf cash receipts - the size of the beef economy BEEF covers.
- USDA NASS Census of Agriculture - county-level cattle inventory data for producers.
BEEF FAQ
Is BEEF magazine still published?
Yes, as a digital brand at beefmagazine.com. The printed magazine was suspended after the January 2021 issue.
Who publishes BEEF magazine?
BEEF is part of the Farm Progress livestock group with National Hog Farmer and Feedstuffs.
Who writes for BEEF?
The Farm Progress livestock team, including Sarah Muirhead, Ann Hess, Joshua Baethge, Kristin Bakker and Beef Producer editor Alan Newport.
What happened to Cow-Calf Weekly?
Cow-Calf Weekly was discontinued at the same time the BEEF print edition was suspended in 2020-2021.
Print or pixels, BEEF magazine still does what it set out to do in 1964: give cattle producers the production and business information to run a profitable herd.