U.S. Cattle Herd Shrinking to 63-Year Low Means Record Beef Cost

Three years after the worst dry spell on record for Texas, fourth-generation rancher Stayton Weldon still doesn’t have enough water for his 300 cattle near Cuero, about 89 miles (143 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio. Dry grass on his 2,600 acres (1,052 hectares) has no nutrition. He has lost 22 cows and two bulls in the past year.

“We need rain -- bad,” the 75-year-old Weldon said, looking at animals scraping at patchy grass on land that his family has been on since 1856. “We’ve got tremendous drought problems. It cuts your herd size down because people have to sell off to provide for the cattle that are left.”