Despite a few quick showers and sprinkles across Northeast Texas this week, the scorching heat and drought continue, and so do the catastrophic impacts on cattle ranchers and farmers. The lack of hay and water has driven cattle producers to sale barns in droves and there is no end in sight as the Texas summer continues to bake hayfields and dry up watering holes.
One of those Northeast Texas cattle ranchers that has been directly impacted by the heat and drought is Lynn Patterson, of Patterson Brangus over near Paris.
Patterson told the Tribune, “The worst part of this is we are running out of feed. Grass has not grown because of the lack of rain and what grass we have is such poor quality that people are having to supplement with hay or feed and it is just not cost effective with the costs of feed and hay right now. I think we have gotten used to having adequate moisture and we’ve had droughts before and this is not different from those in the past, but most of us were just not prepared for it this time.”
