Holding has integrated his ranching operation, purchasing two feedlots in Wyoming to fatten his own cattle.

FORBES: Remembering Robert Earl Holding, Billionaire Owner Of Sun Valley Ski Resort

The shortage is being felt at meatpacking plants and large feedlots, where industry giants such as Cargill Inc. fatten cattle before slaughter.

WSJ: Where's the Beef? Less of It in Texas

Niman's cattle graze on high grass for at least 14 months and then spend 5 months at low-density (83 cattle per acre) feedlots.

FORBES: One Man's Meat

Once a little molasses is stirred in, much of this trash becomes cattle feed, trucked just a short distance to the feedlots dotted among the cotton fields.

NPR: Texas Cotton: 'Farmer Profits at Every Step'

By contrast, the cattle marching into a typical slaughterhouse have spent as little as six months on the range and four months in packed feedlots.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The majority of beef cattle in the U.S. are raised on grass on family-owned ranches before they are sent to feedlots for fattening and then on to the slaughterhouse for processing.

WSJ: Beef Industry Carves a Course