Record Cattle Sales A Result Of Little Rain
US - SLO County’s dry land isn’t producing the grasses ranchers need to feed their herds, so they’re getting rid of them early —and losing money in the processSan Luis Obispo County cattle ranchers are selling cattle off in record numbers after this season’s meager rainfall failed to produce enough grasses to sustain their herds.
Cows and their calves are being sold nearly two months earlier than usual — and at lower weights — because ranchers say they’d rather sell than pay for expensive feed.
“We’re 60 days too early, but you have to cut your losses,” said Dick Nock, a Cayucos cattle rancher. “We’re seeing (ranchers) get rid of 50 percent of their cows.” “I shipped everything,” he said. “I shipped them to Colorado for greener pastures.”
"I shipped everything,” he said. “I shipped them to Colorado for greener pastures.”
Cattle and calves are the second most valuable agricultural product in the county, valued at more than $59 million last year. They are second only to wine grapes, which are valued at $151 million.
Ranchers at the Templeton Livestock Market on Saturday said the last dry season that pushed them to sell early struck in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a year like this, and I don’t know if it was this bad,” San Miguel rancher Levi Grantham said.
This year, he moved his herds.
“I shipped everything,” he said. “I shipped them to Colorado for greener pastures.”
Cliff Garrison, who manages cattle ranches near San Simeon, also recalled selling cattle early during that drought.
He believes it was worse then.
“A lot less feed,” Garrison said.
The Templeton market has sold 12,000 cattle in its past four sales — 10 times the number usually sold at this time of year, Nock said. The sales, held every Saturday, usually market about 300 cattle each week.
Source: San Luis Obispo Tribune