– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
By now, everyone has seen the news about the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. No estimates of total damages are available yet. While a large portion of Texas cattle are in the Panhandle region, most of those are in feedlots and dairies. None of those have been hit by the fires. The impact is on rangeland beef cattle. Losses are likely to be large and will include ranch infrastructure like fences, lost grazing while rangelands recover, and cows and calves lost, especially given this time of year. After several years of drought, low cattle prices, and higher costs, losses from the fires will be especially damaging because of today’s record-high prices and the lost opportunity to make up financially for the last few years.