Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 8/31/17


Even as flood waters from Hurricane Harvey continue to wreak havoc in southeast Texas, the cattle industry is expected to face a number of challenges beyond loss of animals on the road to recovery, according to analysts and industry observers.

USDA estimates that about 1.2 million beef cattle were in the 54 Texas counties already declared disaster areas, and unless ranchers were able to move their herds before Harvey made landfall, the storm’s toll will take some time to assess.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association pointed out that Texas is the nation’s largest cattle and calf producer and has the largest feedlot herd at 2.42 million head. Processors are facing their own struggles beyond the scenarios ranchers are dealing with thanks to Harvey.

“This event was extremely disruptive, and no one will begin to know the total (industry) impact until the water clears out,” John Nalivka, president of Sterling Marketing Inc., a Vale, Ore.-based consulting firm that provides services to the livestock and meat industry, told Meatingplace. “We’re not at the point to consider an assessment of how this will affect the industry there because it was such a regional event and cattle not grazing (for a period of time) will be an issue.”

Nalivka added that he’s heard some estimates that the floodwater may not fully recede until October, adding that he believes that 30 days seems like a reasonable estimate. “With reservoirs full, levees being challenged and rivers swollen, it doesn’t matter whether it’s cattle or humans, this was a catastrophe,” he said.

Altin Kalo, agriculture economist with Steiner Consulting Group in Manchester, N.H., agrees with that assessment, adding ranchers are likely to face other issues they may not have predicted as they prepared for Harvey’s arrival late last week.

“It’s probably going to take weeks to normalize the flow of operations as the industry tries to resolve such issues as reopening shipping ports and moving cattle,” Kalo told Meatingplace in an interview. He also raised the issue of the fall calving season and the flooding’s effect on calves born in the spring that were still with their mothers when Harvey made landfall and dumped record levels of rain.

“The (USDA) 1.2 million estimate may be too low” since the agency may not have had a full accounting in all of the counties, Kalo said. He added that moving cattle will be challenging as trucks are being used to get supplies to humans affected by the flooding rather than for moving cattle and beef.

“The availability of refrigerated trucks is a big issue as they are now a valuable commodity,” he said. “We’ve seen this before (following natural disasters) because first responders uses these to transport goods for human residents before they can be used to get meat where it needs to go. A lot remains up in the air,” he added.

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