The Farm Brief

06/09/2026

"YOU'D BE ALL BY YOURSELF, NOT A SOUL AROUND."

DALE JENKINS
— CANADIAN, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 2024

On the second day of the Smokehouse Creek Fire, Dale Jenkins was looking out his window at his Canadian, Texas ranch.

He could see the wispy white smoke passing over the hill on the horizon. A squad of local volunteer firefighters had worked all night to contain it. Jenkins, a lifelong rancher in the Texas Panhandle had witnessed enough wildfires to know this wasn't over. It was too windy. The ground was too hot. This was just the beginning.

Jenkins and his family hurried to save more than 100 head of cattle that were two weeks away from being sold for breeding at more than $300 per head. He personally wrangled 24 cows and 11 calves into a fenced-in area. One stubborn calf refused to comply. Not long after he thought they were safe the cattle panicked and jumped the fence.

With a water sprayer on the front of his tractor, Jenkins fought the fire.

"It's the most surreal thing, and I've experienced this a couple of times. You'd be out there fighting this fire, and you'd be all by yourself not a soul around. But you've got the light from the fire line. And you're working at it and concentrating so hard, and finally, you get to the end, you finally put out the last flames, and then it's just totally dark and totally quiet."

The family saved most of their adult cattle. Only six calves were saved. Five of them were severely burned. A woman in Childress three hours away took the orphaned calves in.
Later, Jenkins testified before state lawmakers about the fire's hidden costs.

"Historic homes and ranches burned to the ground, literally museums to our region and way of life. Genetics bred into cows over decades, and generations have been lost."

The Smokehouse Creek Fire burned more than 1 million acres. It was the largest wildfire in Texas history.

Source: Texas Tribune, April 2024

06/08/2026

The Cattle Breed Most Americans Have Never Heard of Feeds More People Than Any Other on Earth

06/08/2026

The Cattle Breed Whose Muscles Never Stop Growing Because of One Missing Gene

06/08/2026

"WE HAVE DEFEATED THIS PEST BEFORE AND WE WILL DO IT AGAIN."

DUDLEY HOSKINS — USDA UNDER SECRETARY, JUNE 3, 2026

For the first time since 1966, a flesh-eating parasite has been confirmed in Texas cattle.
On June 3, 2026, the USDA confirmed the first case of New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf in La Pryor, Zavala County the first detection in Texas in 60 years. A second case was confirmed on June 5, just 5.6 miles from the first.

The New World screwworm is not a bacteria. It is a parasitic fly. The female lays her eggs in any open wound as small as a tick bite. The eggs hatch into larvae that burrow into living flesh and feed. One female can lay up to 3,000 eggs in her lifetime.

The USDA has established a 20-kilometer infested zone around the detection site. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expanded a statewide disaster declaration. Mobile response teams are deployed. Sterile fly releases have been expedited.

The US cattle herd currently stands at 86.2 million head — its lowest point in 75 years. A wider outbreak could cost the Texas economy $1.8 billion in losses.

The USDA confirmed the food supply is safe. The screwworm does not affect beef in the food supply.

The last time this parasite was in the US, it took decades to eradicate. The US government eradicated it using the sterile fly method releasing sterile male flies that mated with wild females, producing infertile eggs.

That same method is being deployed right now.
If you're a rancher in south Texas check your cattle. Check every wound. Check every newborn. Call your veterinarian immediately if you see unusual maggots or rapidly worsening sores.

"We have defeated New World screwworm before, and we will do it again."
— Dudley Hoskins, USDA Under Secretary, June 3, 2026

Sources: USDA APHIS, Texas Tribune, CDC, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — June 2026

06/08/2026

A Flesh-Eating Parasite Just Returned to Texas for the First Time in 60 Years. Here's What Ranchers Need to Know

06/07/2026

06/07/2026

How It's White Face Built American Commercial Ranching

06/07/2026

"WE'RE NOT PARTYING YET"

KORY BIERLE — BAD RIVER, SOUTH DAKOTA

Kory Bierle's family has ranched along the rugged, shale-carved banks of the Bad River in South Dakota for more than a century.

For years, punishing droughts forced him to downsize his herd. Then came the pandemic. Then tariff uncertainty. Every time it felt like it might be turning, another shock arrived.

"It feels like there's always another shock no one sees coming," Kory, 60, told NPR. "That Black Swan event, just around the next bend."
Going into 2026, high beef prices are finally giving ranchers like Kory a reprieve. He's paying off some debt. But he won't expand his herd. Not yet. Not until he's sure.

"We're not partying yet. But you know, you feel for them, because at the same time we know exactly what it's like."

A century on the same land. Drought, pandemic, and uncertainty. Still standing.
That's what a hundred years looks like.

Source: NPR, December 2025

06/06/2026

How Texas Traded 3 Million Acres for a Capitol Building and Built the Largest Ranch in American History

06/06/2026

The French Breed That's Been in the Same Mountains for Thousands of Years