Ranchers in the Texas Panhandle cattle country say they’re dealing with depressed beef prices caused by the end of a prolonged drought.
Smith Cattle Co. General Manager Levi Berry told the Amarillo Globe-News his feedlot cows were bringing $170 per 100 pounds two years ago, but those prices now have plunged to about $103. That’s a loss that could approach $1,000 per animal, he said.
“We’ve never seen it this bad,” Berry said. “It’s the biggest price move in the history of our business, and it happened in a fairly short time frame. That’s the thing that’s been painful.”
The drought from 2011 to 2014 in the Panhandle, the hub of the Texas cattle industry, left a shortage of quality corn, pushing up feed prices and then cattle prices. Amarillo National Bank Executive Vice President Pat Ware said.
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