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State's cattle ranchers forced to downsize herds

Dennis Maloney
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Flickr / Creative Commons

The ongoing drought is making it tougher for California ranchers to provide water for livestock, forcing some to downsize their herds.

Loren Poncia is the co-owner of Stemple Creek Ranch near the town of Tomales in Marin County.

"We sold quite a few mama cows and we moved a lot of cattle off of our ranches to other places further north in other parts of the state that had water."

He says last month's historic rain storm that deluged Northern California with several inches of rain has brought about a reprieve from downsizing herds.

"Now that it has rained and we are starting to have some stock water and we actually got a pretty decent start to the grass growing, we've brought most of those cattle back home."

But long-range weather forecasts show dry conditions continuing.

A survey by the American Farm Bureau finds more than 65-percent of farm and ranch businesses in the Western U-S report selling off portions of herds is prevalent in their areas.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.