Texas drought and cattle don't mix

A cow is stuck in the mud at the bottom of an empty stock tank in Garfield on Wednesday July 27, 2011. The historic drought of 2011 dried up stock tanks all over Texas.


David Tucker, a ranch hand at Rocking H Ranch in Garfield , gives water to an exhausted cow he rescued that was mired in the mud at the bottom of a stock tank on Wednesday, July 27, 2011. The eight-year-old cow survived the ordeal, but two weeks later she got stuck again and died.


A cow looks for blades of green grass in the bottom of an empty stock tank at a ranch near Manor on Wednesday, July 27, 2011.


Cattle wait in a pen to be auctioned at the Gillespie Livestock Company in Fredericksburg on Friday, August 10, 2011. Cattle auctions did brisk business this summer because ranchers were forced to sell much of their herd due to lack of water and grass. It could take years for the ranchers to replace their herds, and beef prices are expected to rise sharply after briefly going down.


Underweight cattle wait in a pen to be auctioned at the Gillespie Livestock Company in Fredericksburg on Friday, August 10, 2011. Some ranchers could not afford hay for their cattle or could not find it to buy.

Me thinks that rancher waited way to long with selling these cows. :roll:
I would've had the SPCA all over me if i would let them animals starve like that. :shock:

BTW,drought in general and cattle never mix,not just Texas drought. :wink:

Couple ranches shipping cattle to nebraska and wyoming.This is in north central tx. it was on 10pm news couple days ago.

I agree with Bison.

That is too bad. How do you remove the stuck cattle from the mud. I was sent to help rescue one of my brothers cows that was stuck. I just tied a rope aroung it's neck and pulled. Nothing else was working. Stan

in SW OK we are in same condition. had a sad day last week, ended up selling the last of the herd on the river. wasn't all bad though....the high headed angus cow that I thought was going to kill me on more than one occasion put up the fight of the century to end her run. not too happy to see those skinny cows in the pics...he shoulda sold them long time before that. my 2 cents.

I had heard from a couple of people the ground was cracking open from being so dry. That is amazing how dry it is. I've got several friends who have been buying cattle out of Texas and hauling to Tennessee. Some have been actually been alright just needed a couple days of good food and started looking better.

All of those pictures are just heartbreaking to see.
It's not just people being inconvenienced, it's all the animals suffering there.

im not in texas but western okla is just as bad,i noticed around our ponds even the geese are getting stuck in the mud.I thought deer may be coming in to water at them but theres not a deer track one around them.i guess they are smart enough to stay out of mud,and are drinking at the water troughs.cattle that dont have the option to move like that though have to get water somewhere.i heard on the radio where some of the big ranches in texas are hauling cattle all the way into nebraska for pasture and water.I'm sure glad ive been able to so far have enough pasture and water by pulling stock closer to home ,but thats even fading now.really strange to drive down the hyway and see so few cattle grazing.

Seeing a cattleman on his knees with a bottle of water to a dying cow's mouth isn't something i want to see, but it needs to be looked at. Thanks for sharing the pictures and story.

The burden on the soul of the cattleman caught up in this mess is a heavy burden indeed. Starving cattle and unanswered prayers are more than just an inconvenience to some folks.

Low coastal areas around here often have dikes around the fields, and the borrow area is just inside the dike, kind of like a moat along the dike. Cattle tend to get stuck in them.

Standard method of removal is a logging chain around the neck, hooked under the neck, not too tight- this leaves room to breathe. Slow, steady pull with the tractor does the trick, cow comes out none the worse for wear.

For obvious reasons, you don't want to "get a run at it" with a slack chain, like one newby did.

Send them to Ohio as we are nearing record rain falls.

I live in SE Okla. and we also have a serious drought problem. I have six ponds on my place and only one is full enough for cows to drink. I have had to pull cows out of the mud and believe me it is not fun and they usually die anyhow. I have a good well and I fill a stock tank full of water with a float valve and the cows prefer to drink out of the tank rather than fight the mud. Roy

i know what you mean,ive fenced all the ponds off except where there is a rock bottom.mine are silted in so bad that if cows get within ten feet of the standing water its like quicksand.ive got neighbors that have been hauling water since feb.