Cattle Ranchers Sell Livestock As US Drought Worsens

Extreme drought and inflationary pressures are prompting farmers in western states of the United States to sell off higher numbers of their cattle herds than they have done in over a decade.

According to the data provided by the American Farm Bureau Federation, close to eighty percent of the western region of the United States is currently enduring terrible drought conditions, and this has been the case for almost an entire year. Things, however, have reached a boiling point for farmers and ranchers as a result of the most recent heatwave, which lasted for a week and affected roughly 80 million people across the country.

The temperatures in Texas have been around 100 degrees for the past few weeks, leading to a shortage of water and the burning of grass, both of which are essential for the feeding and maintenance of cow herds. Some ranchers claim that the only other choice they have is to sell their land.

According to David Anderson, a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M, “We haven’t had this kind of movement of cows to market in a decade, since 2011, which was our last really big drought.” This statement was made by Mr. Anderson.

According to a poll conducted by the AFBF, a severe drought in the West caused forty percent of farmers to be compelled to sell off part of their herds in the previous year. The current scenario is made even more precarious by the rising prices of essential commodities such as feed, fertilizer, and fuel. There are a lot of cows being taken to the auction.

On a typical day, the modest sale barn in Elk City, Oklahoma, which serves four very rural counties, sees between 200 and 300 cows brought in for auction. According to Monte Tucker, a member of the state board of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, they saw a thousand of them this week.
Tucker, who comes from a family that has been in the cattle business for five generations, claims that he won’t sell his cows until there is no more grass for them to eat. He is giving seed to his herd in order to increase their diet, but this is proving to be a very costly endeavor.

“It’s twice as high as it was two years ago. We were buying that feed for $200 a ton and today it’s $400 plus. So, the feed’s doubled — that’s another crunch  “explained Tucker.
According to Anderson, even if ranchers are hesitant sellers, they are getting a good price at the market. This is a positive development. That might eventually result in lower prices for the general public. The cost of ground beef to customers in the United States in June was 9.7 percent higher than it was the same month a year ago.
However, the future cost of pricing is a major problem. Consumers may face increased costs for beef over the next two years as herds get smaller and there are fewer breeding cows available. Beef production is expected to drop by 7 percent in 2019, according to projections made by the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA.

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Farmers and ranchers who meet the requirements for the Emergency Aid for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) may be eligible for financial assistance. The program reimburses ranchers for any additional expenses they may have incurred as a result of transporting water or moving animals to better grazing pastures.

There is one stipulation that must be met: ranchers must make their home in a county that has been ranked as having a severe drought for an extended period of time by the United States Drought Monitor.

On Thursday, Governor Mike Parson of Missouri signed an executive order extending assistance to 53 counties in his state that have been severely impacted by the ongoing drought.

In a news release, Governor Parson was quoted as saying, “I know on my farm that conditions have deteriorated quickly, and we are hearing the same reports from countless other farm and ranch families across the state.”

The directive instructs the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Conservation to open up access to water sources in state parks and other types of conservation zones for local farmers. In addition to this, Governor Parsons issued an order to the Missouri Department of Transportation to exempt farmers and ranchers transporting hay from taxes and limitations.