ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the number of cattle in the United States is at its lowest level since 1952 and we could all see it first hand at the dinner table. 23 News investigated with local cattle farmers and Eickman's Butcher Shop to see if the Stateline could be affected in the near future.

Cattle Farmer Dwayne Proctor said, "We are hitting kind of a perfect storm here--numbers have been declining."

Proctor's family has been in the cattle business for more than a century and says the rise in beef prices didn't just happen overnight.

He said, "This is several years in the making that this has been coming at us. A lot of it is plain old simple supply and demand."

The US Department of Agriculture reports there are 91 million heads of cattle, the lowest number in 60 years. Proctor says that's due to record feed prices and cattle replacement costs. Places like Eickman's Processing Company have raised prices.

Tom Eickman said, "We know the consumer's pressed with gas prices, everything seems to be going up. But we hit that point where we knew we had to move product up in price."

At Eickman's, cattle are aged for about two weeks. The total cost for processing is between four to five hundred dollars.

Tom Eickman, "Prices are at top of the line, as high as I've seen them in my lifetime. Right now it's not uncommon to see $1.20 to $1.30 pound live weight cattle."

That’s compared to 65-cents a pound two years ago. Proctor thinks we'll be stuck with higher prices for a while.

Dwayne Proctor, Cattle Farmer, "It takes two years to get an animal back, so it's longer term than let's say the other cheaper meats [like] chicken."

While demand for beef hasn't dropped, its supply has. One factor Proctor says many don't realize is more corn is being used for ethanol, which chips away at its availability for feed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts beef prices will rise four to five percent more this year and it's already risen ten-percent from 2011.