Tipping Over

Two different stories caught my eye about drought and cattle dying.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://beefmagazine.com/natural-disaster/0119-texas-drought-worsens/">Texas drought worsens, cattle dying</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Drought conditions in Texas are so bad cattle are keeling over in parched pastures and dying.<br />n<br />nDrought conditions worsened significantly in the past week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday. Seventy-one percent of the state is now in some stage of drought, up from 58.3 percent last week.<br />n<br />nA week ago the two worst drought designations — extreme and exceptional — covered 9.1 percent of the state. This week the two categories cover 15.1 percent of the state, with a circle near San Antonio and Austin widening in all directions. Only the eastern and southeastern parts of Texas are without any drought status.<br />n<br />nIt all results in death for dozens of cows in Bastrop, south of Austin. At Dr. Lee Davis' veterinarian clinic, up to 10 cows a week have been brought in for treatment over the past month. They fell in pastures from weakness due to lack of grazing forage, and most didn't survive, Davis said.</blockquote><br />n<br />n<a href="http://beefmagazine.com/natural-disaster/0119-argentine-ranchers-drought/">Argentine ranchers cry help as drought kills cattle</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Argentine rancher Gustavo Giailevra has seen 425 of his cattle, a quarter of his herd, die of thirst in the last year and now he watches helplessly as the survivors bellow for water at dry wells.<br />n<br />nArgentina's beef industry and wheat and corn production have been devastated by the country's most severe drought since 1961, which has also affected agriculture in neighboring Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil.<br />n<br />nThe crisis is compounded by the world economic slowdown, which is cutting demand for farm products and draining state finances just as ranchers look to the government for help.<br />n<br />n"The situation is terminal," Giailevra said, surveying the stinking cow carcasses on his ranch near the town of Tostado in Santa Fe province in northern Argentina. "We are in God's hands. Our water reserves are gone."<br />n<br />nThe drought has killed 300,000 head of cattle and caused at least $600 million in farm losses in Santa Fe. Authorities are trucking in water but it is not enough and producers are demanding longer-term solutions.</blockquote><br />n<br />nDamn, I hate to hear about cattle dying because of drought. Not much a person can do about it though. Watch and learn. Sell cattle before they die would probably be best. That is real hard to do too.