This is the line for a cattle sale in central Texas.
It is hot, over 100 degrees.
Dry, one of the worse droughts on record.
Ranchers are having to sell their cattle by the trailer full.
There are usually only a few cattle trailers in line for the drop off at any given time the day of the sale. This day there was a wait line for over an hour. The barn, on the average, sell about 800 head a week. The sale starts at noon and goes to around 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
This week there were over 3000 head of cattle. The sale started at noon and went to 8:00 the NEXT morning!
Buyers from the northern regions of Texas and Oklahoma have had more rain. They can provide greener pastures for the cattle.
With hay selling for $100.00 a round bale, no rain in sight and the grass literally frying on the ground, more of the ranchers will have little choice than to sell their herd.
I saw an elderly man selling a few fat cows. His face was sad when he unloaded his girls and drove away. I am praying his cows are fat and happy in a greener pasture in Oklahoma.
oh, this makes my heart hurt. i hate this… i know our own hay crop (and the neighbor’s) was pitiful.
This is so sad 🙁 I am afraid we will have to do the same thing pretty soon. It has been very upsetting to witness this drought. Praying for rain!
This tugged at my heart also. Why is it the noble professions, family farming, teaching, nursing are always hit the hardest?
sigh
z
Oh darn Cindy, this is awful, I can only imagine how they feel. MY heart hurts for them. Praying for rain for many parts of the country.
It’s so sad to see sights like these…nature is wonderful but can be so harsh at times…
Oh this makes my heart heavy with sadness…. rain, please rain for you…..
“Her” and Romeo
A couple of years back we had a fairly bad drought for our area but nowhere near what the folks in Texas are suffering. The livestock auction barn for our area is just up the road and they had a steady stream of trucks pulling cattle trailers from mid July though the fall. The saddest part was the TV news reports of people just letting livestock fend for themselves because they just couldn’t afford hay or feed. Thank God our drought’s over and farmers have already put up hay twice and there’s at least one more harvest growing.
Oh my gosh Cindy I had no idea how bad it was I knew it was bad reading Texwisgirls blog but this breaks my heart. As you have read I am a beef farmer and I feel so sorry for them.
We have taken off 610 round bales I feel happy yet guilty. I do hope you get rain soon but I know once a farmer has gone through this it is hard to go back. The BSE thing in Canada hurt us bad. B