It's a symbol of carnival -- the fattened cow, ready for slaughter so faithful Catholics can indulge in red meat one last time before Lent. Recent economics may have a lot of us saying "farewell" to beef.
Beef prices in January rose faster than the food category overall, according to the U.S. government's Consumer Price Index. Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says part of the reason is that fewer cows are being raised for slaughter.
"We've lost three to four percent of our beef herd per year over the last four years," he explained.
Dr. Strain said a lot of ranchers are aging out of the business, and fewer people want to get into raising cattle, which can be an expensive livestock.
"The average beef herd in the United States is less than 25 head, the average age of the beef farmer is close to 60 years of age," said Strain. "So over time, because of the input costs, less people are raising cattle."
So fewer ranchers equals fewer cattle, which equals less beef, making it more expensive to put that meat on the grill.
