May 29, 2006

 

Southern US drought prompts extreme measures from cattle producers

 

 

Extreme drought conditions in the southern tip of Texas is causing cattle producers there to haul water, liquidate cow herds or wean calves early in an effort to cope, said David Anderson, extension livestock economist for Texas A&M University, Friday (May 26).

 

The US Drought Monitor, published by the US Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows "extreme" or "exceptional" drought conditions in that traditionally heavy cattle-producing area of the state.

 

The weekly Texas Crop, Weather Report issued Tuesday said "South-western Texas is suffering the worst. A large portion of the region has received only 2.4 inches of rain during the last 221 days, with the last economically significant rainfall of about 1 inch on Oct 13, 2005. This is the driest period on record, according to Extension officials in Uvalde."

 

There is a larger area of extreme drought important to cattle production centred in Arizona and New Mexico that has an arm extending up into the northern Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma and into south-eastern Colorado, according to the drought monitor.

That area might be seeing the same extreme measures being taken by cattlemen, but many of the cattle that would have been sold because of poor pasture conditions related to drought already are gone because of a rash of grass fires earlier this spring, Anderson said.

 

State-wide, there are large concerns about drought among the state's cattle producers, he said. Drought in the late 1990s forced some producers to liquidate herds at that time, and many were just beginning to rebuild when they were hit by more dry weather and wildfires over the last year or two.

 

There has not been enough time between then and now to recover lost capital, Anderson said.

 

Southern portions of the Texas Panhandle also were hit with wildfires this year said Allen Spelce, director of communications for the Texas department of agriculture. However, these areas have received enough rain to make pastures green and even to allow producers to get a cutting of hay in the barn.

 

Overall, the state's Agricultural Statistics Service calculated that 48 percent of Texas' pastures are in poor to very poor condition, according to its weekly report.

 

Market analysts continue to say long-standing drought in major cattle-producing areas like Texas or Oklahoma could delay US herd-building efforts after one of the longest herd liquidation phases in history that spanned about 11 years.

 

"Reduced pastures could significantly restrain growth as farmers run out of resources and send animals to market rather than keep them in the herd," said Steve Meyer and Len Steiner in Tuesday's Daily Livesock Report from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

 

Combined with rising corn prices, the result could be reduced growth in beef production over the next few years, the CME economists said.