Drought and heat conditions force ranchers to sell cows – RetailWire

Nearly 80 percent of the American West has suffered extreme drought conditions for nearly a year, according to the America Farm Bureau Federation. A recent heat wave that has seen temperatures hover around 100 degrees for weeks has exasperated an already bad situation, forcing ranchers to sell their livestock. “We haven’t had this kind of movement of cows to market in a decade, since 2011, which was our last really big drought,” said David Anderson, a professor of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M.