Cattle ranchers still hurting from Harvey
Texans lost about $93 million in animals, infrastructure and hay.
The trouble for Southeast Texas cattle ranchers began in late August when Hurricane Harvey dropped a year’s worth of rain in a matter of days. Once the major flooding cleared, fall gave way to an unusually harsh winter with two snowfalls and several days of prolonged freezing temperatures.
Now, six months past the initial damage, many cattle ranchers are still struggling with hay shortages, weak cows and low birth rates. Continuing above-average rainfall means there’s nowhere for water to go, leaving pastures a soggy, muddy mess.
With about 30 percent of Texas’ 4.8 million beef cows in hurricane-affected counties, the industry as a whole was able to absorb these losses without major upheaval. The same cannot be said for individual ranchers who expect these heavy blows to affect their bottom lines for at least the next three years.
David Anderson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension livestock econ-
omist in College Station, estimated the industry lost about $93 million in animals, infrastructure and hay supply. New estimates about ongoing winter losses have not been released, he said.
“Profit margins have always been narrow — forever,” said Anderson, who said the ranching industry standard is 3 to 5 percent. “It takes a lot of land and cows out there eating grass that grows. You have to have so many acres per cow, and land’s expensive. That’s been the nature of the industry forever. In ag, the saying is farmers are land rich and cash poor. If you sell off the land to eat, you no longer have a business.”
Les Daigle, a family rancher in Orange, estimates he’s had about 20 percent calf loss between his two herds. Ranchers, veterinarians and industry experts reported hearing of similar losses at other operations across East Texas.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Daigle said as he thought back to September. “My word after it happened was ‘defeating.’ I couldn’t describe it.
“If not for the hard winter, we might have been OK,” he added. “I keep thinking, is it ever going to be better?”
Stranded cattle
When the storm hit, cows scattered looking for higher ground. Many ended up on islands of land poking through the murky water. Those cows that stood in the water had skin rot on their legs — and those that survived were still healing in late February, said veterinarian Eric Metteauer of Sour Lake.
“If you didn’t get to the cattle quick, then these types of cases didn’t survive,” he said. “Guys lost a lot, because they got caught behind floodwaters. Ranchers didn’t have the time or places to put cattle on high ground. So many places that never (before) held floodwaters did.”
As the water receded, downed fences left ranchers scrambling to collect their herds and contain them. Daigle, also a member of the Lower Sabine-Neches Soil and Water Conservation District, said the group could provide funds to help, but only for cross-fencing, not exterior property fences.
“We’re now analyzing what to do to be prepared in the future — to be more flexible with funds already existing in times of disaster,” Daigle said. “Cross fences, who cares? During the storm you had to get the perimeter taken care of.”
Meanwhile, ranchers jumped in to support one another. Devon Michael, a family rancher in Orangefield, joined a team effort organized by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to get supplies to affected areas.
“Looking back, we had things brought in from all over the U.S. and Canada,” she said. “They’d say, ‘It took us two days to get here, but we got here as quick as we could.’ ”
The Cowboy Church of Orange County was one of 13 animal supply points, said Monty Dozier, Texas A&M associate professor and extension special agent in College Station. Through a central donation line, the agency coordinated the collection and distribution of supplies across 42 affected counties after Harvey.
In total, he said, they distributed 5,100 tons of hay, 530 tons of cattle cube feed, 432 tons of horse feed, 451 tons of all stock feed and 235 tons of pet food.
AgriLife, working under the Texas Animal Health Commission, is just one of the many agencies with a desk at the state’s central operations center during a natural disaster such as Harvey, so Dozier said they easily coordinated with the Texas National Guard to use Chinook helicopters to drop hay and feed to cattle stranded on high ground in flooded areas.
“It’s heartwarming to have people driving from all across the nation to bring help,” Dozier said. “Lots of those small communities, their income is based on production agriculture. We try to keep producers viable and livestock alive until local infrastructure stands. It’s a stopgap to keep the industry together for the livelihood of local communities and individual ranchers.”
But while these folks were traveling into storm-ravaged areas for good, the Jefferson County sheriff’s office kicked out several animal rescue groups that seemed to be doing more stealing than rescuing, officials said.
“We found out within the first 48 hours we didn’t want to deal with any rescue groups,” Deputy Don “Stretch” Metts said. “Some came in dressed like military. It was unbelievable. Guns and everything coming in to rescue animals.”
Because so many ranchers assumed their animals had drowned, Metts said he couldn’t estimate how many cows or horses might have been actually stolen. He heard from ranchers who were missing several dozen head but never found one carcass. One night in September, Metts said 20 to 30 dogs were stolen from Ford Park in Beaumont — a concert venue turned holding area for found pets.
Because of the chaos after Harvey, Metts said, no one was arrested for stealing animals, but he won’t forget the experience. “It’s kicking them in the teeth while they’re down,” he said.
Harold Clubb, a rancher in Jefferson County, said he encountered one of these rescue groups. A woman had pulled one of his calves out of the floodwaters and nursed it back to health. He said she’d done so much for it that he let her keep the calf.
At 85 years old, Clubb said he was born into ranching. Today his operation is in the top 10 percent of the largest in Texas. He said the last time they experienced anything like Harvey was Hurricane Ike in 2008. He had some advice on how to get through these tough times.
“First, be on good terms with your banker,” Clubb said with a chuckle. “I’m just now recouping from Ike. I had more cattle loss in Ike, but it didn’t have the lasting effect like this one.
“The effect should have been 30 to 40 days. This time it killed the grass. I’ve never had water kill. Especially in marsh country.”
The lack of quality grass through the harsh winter amplified hay shortages for ranchers.
From flood to freeze
In a normal winter, Daigle said, he uses between 12 and 15 1,000-pound bales of hay. He doubled that this winter, and still the cows were weak. In the first two months of 2018, he lost three seemingly healthy cows.
“My momma said she hopes we don’t lose any more cows. I told her we just don’t know,” Daigle said.
Continued above-average rainfall in the area has added to their challenges, and Daigle hopes once the ground eventually dries up that he can take soil samples and determine how to get quality grass growing again. In mid-February, Daigle’s hay field was finally showing some green, and he was hopeful about the first cut.
As for his remaining cows, Daigle is spending more money and dedicating more time to ensuring they’re healthy. Because it’s been continually wet, he checks their feet more often for rot and deworms more often.
“What’s so weird is the ones that died showed no signs,” he said. “My opinion is that we have not seen the last of it.”
“We don’t know what the impact of 60 inches of rain in four days will be. You don’t know what ends up on your fields.”
Daigle’s experiences with weak and ailing cattle are pretty common among ranchers right now, said veterinarian Harvey Schneiter of Fannett Veterinary Hospital.
“We have had more losses this year than normal,” he said.
Initially, cattle died because they couldn’t get to higher ground, developed skin-related problems from standing in floodwater or incurred respiratory problems or lameness.
Later, nutrition deficiency began causing problems such as aborted pregnancies, stillbirths or weak immune systems leading to parasites or illness. Weakness makes cows susceptible to parasites even with deworming medications.
“Even with calves being born, their weight gains are below normal,” Schneiter said.
“When they breed, the conception rate is down. Next year’s calf crop will be affected,” he added.
To get out of the cycle, Schneiter said cattle need better nutrition. He also recommends ranchers cull their herds to the most viable animals that they can afford to give supplements and a better diet. Otherwise, stretching a poor diet over too many cows makes them all weak.
“Just because a cow is alive and standing there doesn’t make it viable,” he said.
Next, Southeast Texas needs sun and wind to dry the waterlogged fields.
“The impact is more on individuals,” Anderson said. “We don’t see cattle price differences or beef price differences because of the storm. A rancher in San Angelo, he didn’t get higher calf prices because of the hurricane. I don’t think anybody paid more money for hamburger because of the hurricane.
“The impact of individuals hit by storm is huge. It’s a really financial disaster and disaster for their ranch that takes several years to recover from.”