This year will mark the 136th time the Cattle Raisers Convention has met, but it's in a climate that these cattlemen haven't battled for a long time. More than 2,500 ranchers and landowners are convening in Fort Worth this March to discuss a trifecta of issues that won't easily be solved.
Ranchers throughout Texas — and, increasingly, the rest of the country — are now faced with three distinct but interwoven challenges: a deepening financial crisis that is decreasing consumer demand for beef, the lowest cattle supplies since the 1940s and a lingering drought that has expanded to other parts of the country. This time last year, we explored that last issue in our cover story, "Meat Market."
During the worst of the 2011 drought, more than 80 percent of Texas cattle ranchers were forced to cull or entirely liquidate their herds. Tough news for a state in which cattle ranching accounts for an enormous portion of our total agriculture industry. It exceeds the value of all other Texas crops — from cotton to corn — combined.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Houston Press
