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Record number of cattle sold as drought intensifies

The owner of a sale barn in central Missouri says a record number of cattle are being sold as drought intensifies in his state.  

Jack Harrison, with the Callaway Livestock Center in Kingdom City, says producers continue selling off parts of their herd. 

“Started out with the whey cows, then they took the bottom third off, and we are not into the very heart of the melon but pretty close. A lot of them are selling completely out. There are still a few that are hanging onto twenty percent of their top, but if we don’t get any relief pretty quick, they are going to come to town.”

He tells Brownfield there have been a lot of interests from out-of-state buyers.

‘We tried to reach out of state to some good areas that have feed and we advertised it hard. We had a lot of those people show up, and I’ll tell you they really helped the state of Missouri last night. We had a good sale.”

Harrison says the number of cattle moved through his July sale set a record, the third in three months.