Weather leads to cattle sell off

Stockyards flooded with cattle as hot, dry weather persists

McALESTER, Okla. (AP)--Pete Lane sat inside his pickup, pulling a stock trailer loaded with cattle into the McAlester Union Stockyards.

Behind him, a long line of trucks and trailers filled with mooing cattle snaked from the stockyard's holding pens to its main entrance.

Nearly all of the ranchers said during the stockyard's Aug. 15 sale that they would have liked to keep the cattle, but they were selling them because of the drought.

While most still have access to drinking water for their cattle through ponds, small lakes or creeks, the lack of moisture is causing problems in another way--little or no grass or hay.

"We've got enough water and shade for a thousand head," said Lane, of the P&J Lane Ranch in Ashland. "We don't have grass."

He can still remember the Dust Bowl from his younger days 70 years ago.

"This is the worst I've seen since 1936," Lane said. "Then, we didn't have the ponds and lakes like we have now. They had to drive cattle two or three miles to get water."

The problem today is that not only the existing pastureland, but the anticipated hay crop for this winter has been severely affected by the lack of rain and there's not been enough water for the grass and hay crops to grow.

"It's burnt up," Lane said. "We're having about half a hay crop."

The ranchers and cattle owners who are selling off part of their herds have greatly increased the number of cattle going through the stockyards for sale day.

Julie Grant co-owns McAlester Union Stockyards with her brother and sister, Mark Sherrill and Laura Sherrill.

As the trailers of cattle poured into the stockyards, she worked outside in the cattle pens.

"Our normal runs are from 400 to 500 on a sale day," Grant said. "We'll have 1,200 to 1,500 today."

"Usually, the fall runs don't start this early," she said.

Most people selling the cattle who she's talked with have given her the same reason for selling: "No grass."

She said cattle prices have held up "pretty good."

For example, "The very first of the 500-pound steers are bringing from $1.25 to $1.30 a pound," she said. "That's good, considering the big runs."

Weather conditions have been better farther north, she said.

"I talked to a guy from Missouri and he said they had an abundance of hay," she said.

Meanwhile, all of the cattlemen who spoke to the News-Capital said they were holding on to some of their cattle.

"There'll have to be a lot that will have to sell from a third to a half of their herds," Lane said.

Another rancher in the area already is feeding half his herd hay and grain every day because of the lack of grass, he said.

"He didn't have enough grass" on 200 acres for the cattle, said Lane.

Roger Davis knows exactly what Lane means. He brought a load of cattle in from Hanna, in rural McIntosh County. He said a lot of cattlemen are cutting their herds because of the drought.

"If you don't have hay, you can't feed them," he said. Davis had not originally planned to sell the cattle in the back of his trailer.

"If we had the hay, I would have kept them," he said.

Luke Howard, of Caney, said he brought in a load of cattle for a friend for the same reason, a shortage of grass and hay.

While the cattle owners waited in line in their pickups, Linda Sherrill brought a large pan of ice and bottles of water to hand to them as they passed by on their way to the holding pens.

To make sure they got the point, she held a sign that read "Watering hole."

The hot weather is not only affecting pastureland and hay. It's also having an impact on the stockyards, where part-time extra help is needed because of the recent influx of cattle around sale days.

"I called the employment office and they sent four workers today, but another five didn't show up," Grant said. "The hot, hard work apparently being too much for some to handle.

"Anybody who likes cattle could find work here for 25 or 30 hours a week," she said.

Date: 8/24/06

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