Years of drought have wreaked havoc on the cattle industry in Texas. Today a major beef processor in the Panhandle said it is temporarily closing a plant because of dwindling supply.
Cargill says it will idle its facility in Plainview, which employs about 2,000 people.
“You can’t just bring cattle back the day it rains,” said Travis Miller, an agronomist with Texas A&M’s Agrilife Extension Service. “You have to let grasses regrow and your forage base re-establish before you can bring cattle in.”
Cargill says it will provide some help to its employees, including the possibility of relocation. The nation's cattle herd is at its lowest level in six decades.
