Price Of Beef Spiking As Herd Levels Shrink

Revelation 6:5,6 NCV When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse, and its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard something that sounded like a voice coming from the middle of the four living creatures. The voice said, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, and do not damage the olive oil and wine!"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported that the country’s cattle herd has reached its lowest level in 63 years and that ongoing drought in Texas and the Midwest is going to further threaten herd levels.

More than 80 percent of the Lone Star state has been facing abnormally dry conditions that have impacted both farmer ability to water herds but also reduced much of the grass in the state to a level where it provides no nutrition for animals.

One farmer said he’s had major hits to his farm this year.

“We need rain bad,” rancher Stayton Weldon told Bloomberg.  “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.”

Weldon has lost 22 cows and two bulls in the last year because of the conditions.

The USDA says the $85 billion a year beef industry will produce at its lowest level in 20 years through the end of 2014.

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