Stunted range grass provided cattle little to eat. Big ranchers bought expensive supplemental feed, but many others liquidated herds at unfavorable prices rather than face the additional expense. But that was last year. This year, every major Texas city except Wichita Falls has received above-average rainfall. Last week alone, between two and seven inches of rain drenched huge hunks of Texas, adding more sheen to the brightening water picture.
Wheat is good.
Livestock prices are up. In the first three months of last year, more than 1,500 wildfires scorched pastures and pine forests in a 52-county area of East Texas, according to the Texas Forest Service. This year, from January through March, an estimated 159 fires burned only 2,226 acres in that same East Texas region. Edgewood, about 60 miles east of Dallas, came within two weeks of running out of water last year. But rain is the biggest difference this.