Drought decimates Arkansas' famed cattle industry

(CBS News) SEARCY, Ark. - One by one, long cattle trailers in bright green and barnyard red slowly pull up to the Arkansas Cattle Auction. Folks with mud on their boots and cowboy hats on their heads unload their life's work. The cows trundle out into the waiting pens. A few hours later, they will be sold at a third their usual value -- if their owners are lucky.

The crippling, record U.S. drought has forced ranchers all over America to unload their stock sooner and at lower prices than they would probably like, a problem that seems likely to get worse before it gets better.

"He's run out of grass and he's selling the rest of this herd here today," explains the auction house owner Randy Goodman. "A lot of these cows are going to slaughter and that is sad."

We are looking at 25 longhorn cattle, many of whom are so thin, their hip bones look as sharp as their horns.

"A lot of them won't be back," says Goodman. "A lot of the older producers won't be back. They're going to give it up, get out of the cattle industry, and that hurts the economy around here."

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The extreme flash drought -- meaning it came on unexpectedly and isn't letting up -- is decimating Arkansas' cattle industry. Without grass to graze on, owners are having to dip into their winter hay if they have it, or pay $70 per bail of hay that in good times would cost $40.

For many it's too expensive to keep their cows. Inside the auction room, with the crazy-fast drone of the auctioneer echoing off the wooden walls, there is pain in the clinched jaws of the locals trying to sell the cattle they have worked years to perfect genetically.

"Look at them. The people selling these cattle are in a daze," says Oklahoma cattle farmer Gerald Knapp, an old-timer who sits grim-faced in a cowboy hat, with his gray beard and a thick handmade cane as knobby as his fingers.

Knapp drove four-and-a-half hours for the fourth time in four weeks to buy cattle. Having gone through the extreme drought last year, he is building his herd back up with the bargain prices.

"Their calves are bringing in $200 to $300 less a head than they thought. Some are bringing $400 to $500 less than they thought. I would be in a daze too," Knapp says.

When asked if he feels guilty taking advantage of the buyers' market, he looks down and says: "I went through this last year, no one wins in this deal."

He flicks the flyer in his hand, the auctioneer nods, he flicks his paper again, the auctioneer nods and stops talking. Knapp says he just bought a cow, and at a good price too.

The auction continues. They have been selling twice as many cows as usual, with a record 1,450 sold a few weeks ago. About 500 sold cows used to be a good day. Gerald has purchased 300 from Arkansas in the last month.

A round-faced grandfather named Bill Pruett introduces himself to a stranger at the auction, and offers to show off "what's left of our cattle."

"My wife couldn't be here. This is all too hard on her," Pruett says.

He looks down at the dust, and his smile drops.

As Pruett's red pickup truck meanders down country roads that would normally be lined with three-foot-high emerald grass, but instead pastures are brown. Even the trees that still have leaves seem burned brown and red from the heat. Pruett's John Deere tractor is now the greenest thing on his farm as it trundles into his pasture past a 100-year-old clapboard barn with a huge road bail of winter hay. In this case, the straw really is gold and the cows know it. Two of his black Angus cows come out of the stock pond half its usual size, where they have been cooling their bellies, and follow the others towards the hay. The sound of excited "moos" fill the quiet country side.

Pruett says he used to have 234 cows, now he has a herd of just 121.

"You see them every day. They are like grandchildren. You might not understand crying over a cow," Pruett says.

He and his wife have spent the last 25 years raising their cattle and perfecting their genetic make-up.

"It breaks my wife's heart. It's a hard feeling, it's a sad feeling," Pruett says, pausing to look at his herd bull, whose head is the size of a stop sign. "But you know they'll be better off down the road where there's plenty of grass for them and hopefully they don't go right to slaughter."

It's $700 per cow to keep them going, and Pruett says he can't get that much for a cow right now.

"You just need to sell and start over hopefully," Pruett says.

With no relief in sight for the month August, Pruett says he'll have another hard decision to make in a few weeks, but he won't give up. He will try to hold on to as many cows as possible and then he will start over.

Back at the auction house, there are long faces in the stands as a young cow dashes around the auctioning pen. There are so many the sale will go on well into the night and all this selling means less cattle for next year, and that could drive up beef prices as much as five percent.

"We're seeing triple the number of adult cows coming through the market and we're seeing double the total number from a year ago," says Randy, a rancher who did not provide his last name. "If it doesn't rain soon, I'm going to have to sell a big part of my herd too."

Another deep red trailer pulls up with a half-dozen more cows. Another rancher in a dirty white cowboy hat steps slowly out to unload his cattle.

"I just hope everybody can stand it," Randy says. "There's going to be a lot of people, this will break them. They depend on this for their living."

[BeaElliott]

Ten seconds into the video the rancher says he "loves" these cows... That they are just like grand-children. Ha! What a laugh! The idea that anyone breeding and fattening these creatures just to make money on their deaths "loving" them is ridiculous. Bottom line is all the cows, pigs and chickens grown as "food" are commodities. Their lives endure whatever it takes for their butchered bodies to have value in the end.

I wish these harmers and ranchers would stop with the sentimental, crocodile tears... If you truly "loved" the "livestock" you wouldn't breed and slaughter them to begin with! Get real - Go Vegan!

[EmilyJZ]

Our organic dairy farm is extremely effected by the drought. Our cows are fed hardly any grain at all. If corn isn't getting the rain, neither is hay and grasses. We live in a very hilly area and irrigation (drilling a well to water crops) is not possible. This is why we graze cattle instead of crop it. We are downsizing our milking herd by 20%. Reality

[pjm87]

Thanks CBS for bringing us a story that most of us don't think about... but affects everyone! Would love to see more Agriculture related news pieces.

[FeedYardFoodie]

Mother Nature is a constant challenge for farmers and ranchers as we figure out the best way to "put together the pieces to the puzzle" in order to raise safe and healthy food to feed to our own families and many others as well.

I grew up in urban Palm Beach County Florida and learned to be a farmer as a young adult when I married a native of Nebraska and moved to the prairie. Almost 16 years later, Mother Nature still baffles me and challenges our family each and every day.

I am currently writing a series of blog posts regarding the drought and how it is affecting our farm on my blog site: http://feedyardfoodie.com. Take a minute to get to know our family and our farm!

Thanks to CBS for this story---Getting to know "where your food comes from" is so very important.

Anne

[FarmerBright]

While the drought was not as severe on our crops it will still make a major impact on our dairy farm. The feed we purchase for our cows and calves is our biggest expense. Due to the drought and therefore short supply we'll be faced with more rising costs that will be very hard to sustain. This will be a problem for farms of all types and sizes.

[bwatkins123]

Actually newster90210, the majority of this country's corn goes towards ethanol. If you'd like to start a rant with any backing, then we can talk about the ethanol requirements currently backed by the EPA. America actually has one of the SAFEST food structures in the world. So the chance that a person contracts salmonella, e-coli, etc from their food is minute- it likely either A) came from a foreign country or B) was cooked improperly (neither of which are the fault of the producer or processor. What about the mad cow outbreak in Europe? Avian Influence in Asia? How many instances has someone died in the past 10+ years in America because of our food being unsafe compared to these countries? I will say it again. EDUCATION - learn to think and do on your own as an individual. Make your OWN opinions by seeing with your OWN eyes. I suggest visiting an operation and seeing for yourself rather than reading a book about an opinion. Facts are much stronger than opinions. Also, wishing undue hardship on any industry is ignorant and of bad taste. I am very thankful that CNN is shedding light to a major issue for not only the livelihoods of people involved in agriculture, but the issues facing the country as a whole. This drought is causing unwanted stress for a large portion of our nation. We have the majority of this year's corn crop in poor condition. If you buy products such as food, fuel, energy, etc., then this in turn affects you. You as a consumer will in turn have to pay for these circumstances. The problem isn't the "inhumane" killing of animals - it's the lack of education and knowledge about the actual processes used in everyday operations. With any industry you have people who give others a bad reputation. I'm not trying to say that every farmer/rancher uses sustainable and humane practices, but from my experience I've never met one who doesn't. They, like everyone else in America, must make money to survive.

[credibility2]

...pray for rain...in my state the prediction is that August will be worse than July with virtually no rain and a worsening of the drought...

[CWILDMAN]

Like many of the cattle farmers/ranchers in this article, many of my pig farmer friends will be selling off their breeding animals. The cost of feed is creating enormous financial losses. A farmer will sell his breeding stock before he loses so much money he loses the farm. While it is very hard to replace breeding stock, it is even harder to replace a farm. When you are out of money you are out of business. Selling the breeding stock postpones the day when a farmer runs out of money it does not stop it from ever coming. The farmer's next move will be to rent/lease his farm to someone who has more money to create some cash coming in to live on. The person with more money is likely a larger operator. So the big get bigger and the small are pushed out. That is how it works in my experience. It is heart wrenching to experience.

[daringrimm]

I farm in northeast Kansas, and we are surviving... so far... We have 1/2 a crop maybe, but for the most part, we are doing ok. I have a lot of friends in the southern part of the state where this is their second year of sever drought and it is much tougher. There are no easy, simplistic answers to drought. Every farmer, when we begin the year, knows that drought is a possibility. That doesn't make it any easier. it doesn't make it any easier to take those cows, those animals that have almost become family as you've built a herd over years and years, and be forced to accept that you simply do not have enough feed, and if you attempt to buy feed you have to pay a LOT and haul it a long ways. So, you sell the cows, for a lot less than they are worth.

It's not a government problem, it's nobody's fault, it's how nature works, and once every 20-30 years it affects a big part of the country it seems. It's just really hard, as a farmer to watch the plants whither away under day after day of intense heat with no rain, to have to sell part of your animals because you have no feed. Most will live to farm another day, some will not, and the cycle will continue. In the midst of the crisis right now, sometimes all one can do is cry.

[CowNutritioninst]

Thank you for sharing this article about beef producers in Arkansas.

These farmers give of themselves. They live off the land, care for their animals, and yes, they are dependent on the weather. Everyone should have compassion for others.

Every American will have an increase in food cost due to the drought. Drilling for water is an option, but a costly one... and irrigation drives the cost of food up further. The goal in America is to produce safe and affordable food for all, and farmers do their best to achieve this goal every single day.