Texas ranchers, farmers, seeing record losses in grip of drought

The land that Don Casey raises cattle on in Blanco County has been in his family since Sam Houston gave a land grant to a Texas soldier after the Battle of San Jacinto, a piece of paper that eventually found its way to Casey's great-great-great-grandfather and set the family toward the port of Galveston from Germany. A few of his cattle have bloodlines that can be traced back to the longhorns that originally grazed there. Drought has put that legacy in jeopardy.
Casey recorded a couple of inches of desperately needed rain two weekends ago. In the previous 12 months, he'd measured a total of 1.6 inches. Agricultural losses attributed to the drought have reached a record $5.2 billion, according to a report prepared by Texas A&M System's AgriLife Extension Service. Livestock losses alone are $2.06 billion. After factoring in losses for elevators, processing plants and other businesses that serve farmers and ranchers, the total economic impact hits $8.7 billion. A U.S. Department of Agriculture report this month rates 96 percent of Texas pastureland in poor or very poor condition. It's not likely to get better any time soon, observers say. It's going to take years. If ever. And there's no telling how many of the state's 149,000 beef producers will decide they've had enough...more