" Since 1986, the number of beef cattle has dropped from 293,000 to an estimated 190,000 this year and the number of cattle operations fell from 3,000 to 1,900. "
When the government cuts grazing rights, ranchers face two choices:
Buy hay and food supplements or reduce the herd.
Few ranchers can afford to buy hay on the market for a large herd, so most sell, often for prices far below what they could have received normally.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-ranchdrought18dec18,1,1318002.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
Some effects do not translate well to statistics. Cattle raised and grazed on the range know the country and they teach it to their calves.
"They know where the water is, the trails," Todd said. "The new ones don't." That makes more work for ranch hands, who chase down more strays and spend more time guiding the animals to watering holes.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-ranchdrought18dec18,1,1318002.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business