"Home has no grass": Extreme drought forces Texas ranchers to sell cattle for slaughter

Record ID: 1686130

  • Title: "Home has no grass": Extreme drought forces Texas ranchers to sell cattle for slaughter
  • Date: 24th August 2022
  • Summary: CROCKETT, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 16, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EAST TEXAS LIVESTOCK AUCTION, AUCTIONEER, BIDDERS, AND COWS BEING AUCTIONED (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAUL CRAYCRAFT, EAST TEXAS LIVESTOCK AUCTION CO-OWNER, SAYING: “As we get on into August and, you know, we've had I don't how many 100-degree days and you can see out here, you know, the grass is gone. The
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2022 11:09
  • Keywords: bulls calves cattle cattle auction cows drought livestock livestock auction ranchers texas
  • Location: CROCKETT + OAKWOOD + COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: CROCKETT + OAKWOOD + COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment,United States,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA001943518082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Texas is in the grip of a drought which is forcing cattle ranchers to sell off livestock in increasingly large numbers, a trend likely to pressure up future beef prices due to dwindling supply from the largest cattle region in the United States.
    Since mid-July, more than 93 percent of Texas was in drought, ranging from moderate to exceptional drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor. Exceptional drought - or D4, the highest level - is classified by widespread loss of pastures and crops as well as water shortages in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating emergencies. As of August 16, more than 26 percent of Texas was in exceptional drought.
    Paul Craycraft, co-owner of the East Texas Livestock Auction in Crockett, Texas, said 600 to 700 cows likely came through his weekly auction on August 16. He said the dry pastures of Texas are depriving cattle of an important food source, while making it more expensive for ranchers to supplement their herds’ diet with hay and feed.
    “We've had I don't how many 100-degree days and you can see out here, you know, the grass is gone,” Craycraft said. “The cows are beginning to lose weight. The cows are weak because there's no protein. So, we're getting rid of a lot of cows.”
    The auction tracks where the cattle end up, and in the past two months, about 75% of the cows sold are sent to the slaughterhouse, according to Craycraft. He said the percentage of sales for slaughter is typically 40 percent or 30 percent in normal years, but the arid conditions mean cattle can’t thrive in Texas. Craycraft said meat packing industry buyers from across the country are traveling to his auction to buy cattle.
    “To satisfy their contracts, they've got to go where there's cows moving,” Craycraft said. “There are cows moving in Texas right now.”
    With more than four and a half million beef cows in the state, Texas has 14 percent of the nation’s total cattle inventory, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
    Texas A&M University agricultural economist David Anderson said consumers can expect higher prices long term due to what is happening in Texas, which according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture has more than 4.5 million beef cows, or 14% of the U.S. inventory.
    “The pressure will be on for higher prices, higher cattle prices, higher beef prices over the next several years as the effects of this are felt,” Anderson said. “And so, you know, from a consumer standpoint, we're going to face tighter supplies of beef and tighter supplies of beef, with nothing else going on, means higher prices.”
    Rancher Wesley Ratcliff and his late wife Marie purchased Caney Creek Ranch in Oakwood, Texas, in 2002. In 2007, their daughter Kimberly began managing the ranch, which specializes in the large Charbray cattle breed.
    Ratcliff says he got a head start on selling 50 cows from his 500-cattle herd earlier this year, when the drought was picking up.
    “They were older mama cows and they might have gone and had another baby for us,” Ratcliff said. “But rather than wait on them to have another baby, we went on ship them to the meat factory.”
    Ratcliff said he’s seen cattle ranchers leave the industry this year, just as they did in 2011, when the most recent severe drought hit Texas. But just as he did 11 years ago, he plans on staying.
    “I sold a few cows in 2011. I didn't sell a lot of them and I was so glad I didn't because when the market picked back up, I was able to sell cows that I wouldn't have been able to sell for the price that I was getting for,” Ratcliff said. “So you have to hold out and hope like mad that it changes soon enough that your bottom line will go up rather than go down.”
    (Production: Evan Garcia)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register