MCFARLAND - There's a stampede out of Kern County. It's not people heading to the beach. It's cattle moving out of state. Ranchers say it's because the lack of rain is killing the grass in their pastures.
Most of the cattle here don't feed on irrigated fields, so ranchers rely on rain to water their grass. But with little rain, the grass is dry and dying. It's what ranchers might say is a "Grade A" pain in the calf.
At Western Stockman's Market just off Highway 99 in McFarland, cattle are selling like hot steaks.
"Our sales are about 15 percent up from last year," said Justin Meban, manager at Western Stockman's Market.
It's all because of the drought-stricken, dry, brown grass in Kern County's eastern foothills.
"It's a very tough year for all of us," said Jack Lavers, a Kern County cattle rancher and President of the Kern County Cattleman's Association.
Lavers said without rain, their pasture grass didn't grow, and without grass ranchers have no feed because hay is too expensive to buy.
"When I was a little kid you'd hit a year like this and you'd feed hay all the way up until the winter or when you started getting rain again," said Meban. "With the price of hay anymore you can't afford to do it."
So early this spring, ranchers started hawking their herds. Some auctioned off their whole lot. Others, like six-generation rancher Jack Lavers, sold a portion.
"We've probably sold about 20 to 30 percent of our mature cow herd, and if we don't get rain into the fall we're probably going to cut more than that," said Lavers.
But, there is one thing steering the ranchers' way. Right now, cattle prices are at an all-time high, because there's more demand for beef than there are cows.
"The cow population is low across the whole United States and the human population has boomed, thus creating the need for more beef," said Lavers.
To keep prices down, packers import beef from Canada and Mexico.
"There's quite a bit of foreign beef," said Lavers. "We actually raise a higher quality of beef in the United States than anywhere else in the world."
If the grass doesn't green up, the U.S. market will have no choice but to lasso in more migrant meat.
If you would like to know where your beef comes from, you look on the label. Packers are required, by law, to mark the meat's country of origin.