HEREFORD, TX – Major flooding in North Texas near Amarillo resulted in thousands of cattle dying at the Circle Three Feed Yard in Castro County, according to the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
Texas officials have confirmed 4,000 head of cattle were killed at a feedyard in Hereford after 100-year floods hit the Panhandle of Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. Between 8 and 11 inches of rain fell in an area that only receives between 15 and 25 inches of rain annually.
The Texas Cattle Feeders’ Association and the Circle Three Feed Yard worked with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure the livestock and debris were disposed of according to state guidelines. TCFA is working with Circle Three to provide additional care for the remaining cattle.
Officials with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association said, “We continue to be very thankful for the outpouring of support and assistance from friends, family, neighbors, communities, and TCFA members during this unprecedented natural disaster resulting from a 500-year storm event in Deaf Smith and Castro Counties. Our recovery efforts have focused on caring for and feeding cattle that were unaffected by the storm; prioritizing the safety of our employees, workers and volunteers; repairing infrastructure such as roads and drainage ditches; pumping flood waters to other storage ponds that still have excess capacity; and managing the most unfortunate part of the disaster – properly removing and disposing of cattle that were lost. We’ve been in close coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas Animal Health Commission throughout the response and recovery.”
Hereford is known as the Beef Capital of the World and feeds more than 1 million head of cattle per year, but the area is also home to dairy cattle that produce over 1 billion pounds of milk annually.
Castro County is 73 miles Southwest of Amarillo, an area where flooding has caused evacuations to farms and communities. The area has received several rounds of heavy rainfall and storms since May 27, according to a news release from Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday, June 6.
