Have you been to the Midwest to observe the scale of corn and soybean operations? I would wager the number of calories per dollar subsidy produced by the corn and soybean industries outweighs handily the calories per dollar subsidy produced by cattle operations, especially given the 10% reduction in efficiency per trophic level.
Also, how much does beef benefit from cheap feed prices (corn and soy) due to subsidies as well?
Beef prices are high right now.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000703112
If the intent of the government is to pour subsidies into domestic beef production to stabilize prices they're doing a crap job.
Compare corn: https://www.macrotrends.net/2532/corn-prices-historical-char...