UNITED STATES-TEXAS DROUGHT.
The road that leads to the Bamberger Ranch in Central Texas is flanked on both sides by acres of yellow, scorched land, as if wildfires mauled them. Once-bustling creeks are stone-dry. Large ponds, once ringed by sipping heifers, are empty.
The drought parching several areas of the U.S. is most pronounced in the heart of Texas cattle country. High temperatures and lack of rainfall the past 18 months have decimated grass needed for grazing and forced ranchers to sell off herds of cattle.
David Bamberger, proprietor of the Bamberger Ranch, sold 165 of his 225 mother cows in the past two years. If rain doesn’t fall soon, he’ll need to sell more.
"I’m 80 years old, and it’s the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime," Bamberger said.
Cattle ranchers across Texas have been taking drastic steps to save their herds — and their livelihoods — from one of the worst droughts in state history.
Those who can afford it buy feed for their cattle. Others are left with the hard choice of selling off their prized animals.
"We’ve been praying and praying and praying," said Ned Butler, a rancher from Mason County, Texas, who recently sold seven Angus cross-bred calves. "But there’s just not any grass out there."
The first two months of 2009 were the driest start of any year since the USA began keeping records more than a century ago, according to meteorologists.
That was deeply felt in Texas . The past eight months were the driest on record for the state as a whole, says John Nielsen-Gammon, the state’s climatologist. In Central and South Texas , where the drought hit the hardest, it has been drier than any year since 1918, he said.
Even with several days of rain last week, the outlook remains exceptionally bleak. Some central and northern areas of Texas got up to 5 inches of rainfall, "enough to kick up dust but not much more than that," Nielsen-Gammon said. "They’ve been dry for several months. A few weeks’ worth of rainfall is not going to do much for them."
Lack of water during winter threatens foliage growth in spring and summer, a key ingredient for successful cattle grazing, he said.
Gov. Rick Perry recently asked the White House for a state of emergency declaration for 199 Texas counties at risk of wildfires and requested emergency loans for ranchers and farmers.
Nearly all the 15,000 members of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association have reported some form of hardship because of the drought, first Vice President Dave Scott said. Cows that would ordinarily be kept to produce more calves are being sold to packaging plants and other buyers at a fast clip, he said.
"All you can do is sell off part of your cows as you go along," Scott said. "Buying hay or feed gets expensive."
Len Wineheimer, a rancher in Stonewall, Texas , was running 1,500 mother cows — those used to produce calves — two years ago. He has had to sell around 200 cows because of the drought, he said.
Selling mother cows is still a risk because they’re used to reproduce the herd, he said.
"If we don’t have rain in 60 days, we’re going to have to sell some more," he said.
In nearby Fredericksburg , the weekly auction at the Gillespie Livestock Company was recently packed with ranchers selling their cattle. The auctioneer rattled off bid prices in rapid-fire clatter, as cows, bulls and calves were marched behind metal gates.
The auction usually sells 100 to 200 heads of cattle each week, owner Wayne Geistweidt said. Lately, they were selling upwards of 500, he said.
"We have ranchers come in and sell all their livestock because they don’t have water anymore," Geistweidt said. "It’s a tough situation."
Earl McDonald, a rancher from Vanderpool , Texas , about 90 miles northwest of San Antonio , sold 10 Angus calves at Wednesday’s auction. The week before, he reluctantly sold 34. His herd of 247 has shrunk to 160, he said.
The hardest part is choosing which cows should go, McDonald said. Some he raised and was hoping to keep as breeders.
"I always have reservations about which ones I load up on the trailers," he said. "Ranchers aren’t without heart. They care about their animals."
Bamberger, the Johnson City rancher, began selling off his cattle in 2006. He sold 25 in the first round. Then another 25. Then more, as the drought deepened.
"It’s a very serious situation," Bamberger said. "All the conditions for the perfect storm are taking place, right here, right now."
