Youth is gone because the bus did not/does Not Pay Mark Wright 03/22/2011 @ 2:09pm Cattle bus..not much different that most other "consolidated trickle down" usa schemes. Supposedly alot of dough at the top. And it stays there. Perhaps kinda tough to attract youth to the bus because outfits like WalMart pay the help better than the cattle industry does on average. Keep in mind the usa is debt focused, NOT equity focused in the finance sector. Perhaps if a couple usa banking regs were changed to allow local banks equity style jv banking...there could be sensible new money available for younger folks to perhaps start some cow calf or cattle production operations ( also would be plenty of equity dough to start OTHER new widget cos ). In the meantime...the usa cowherd decline will continue. I doubt cowherd numbers will shrink much below 22 to 24 million cows. Exports good ( the offshore currencies buying usa beef are so much stronger than the usd, those buyers live almost on another planet so to speak ). Usa producers perceive prices as good, HUGE export margins for processors. Usa may not end up exporting the whole beef industry...but it could.