In this May 19, 2011 photo, Tyler Gray stirs up a cloud of dust as pulls a tiller across a dry cotton field near Lubbock, Texas, trying to break up hardened ground. A historic drought has already cost Texas farmers and ranchers an estimated $1.5 billion, and the cost is growing daily as parched conditions persist in much of the state. AP Photo / Betsy Blaney

By Betsy Blaney, Associated Press writer
25 May 2011 LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A historic drought has already cost Texas farmers and ranchers an estimated $1.5 billion, and the cost is growing daily as parched conditions persist in much of the state. May is typically the wettest month in Texas, but parts of the state haven’t seen significant rain since last August. Officials said if the drought continues into June, losses for the nation’s second largest agriculture producer will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record. “We’re well on our way to breaking the record of the past,” said Carl Anderson, an agricultural economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, referring to the 2006 season. Anderson is 79 and has seen many droughts, but he said this year looks as bad as anything since the record dry years of the 1950s. “This (drought) will match anything I saw in the ’50s,” he said. The Lubbock area between Nov. 1 and Tuesday got just 1.17 inches of rain — about 17 percent of the normal 6.70 inches for that span. … The drought has dried up cattle ponds and grass crunches underfoot in many fields. Texas livestock producers have seen the biggest losses — about $1.2 billion of the $1.5 billion total, which includes increased feeding costs to pay for hay, lost value of wheat pasture grazing and the high costs associated with hauling water daily to meet animals’ needs, Anderson said. About 90 percent of Texas’ beef cows are located in counties in severe to exceptional drought. …

Cost of Texas drought climbing with each dry day