Fourth-generation Texas farmer Eric Smith is rethinking how his family’s operation should move forward. Instead of sticking to traditional practices, he focuses on what makes financial sense today. Increasingly, that means expanding stocker cattle numbers and reducing reliance on row crops like cotton, especially as drought, shrinking irrigation, rising input costs, and weak commodity prices continue to pressure producers in Floyd County.
A Strategic Shift Toward More Cattle
Diversification for Survival
Smith explains that his family has always rotated crops, but the operation is now rotating in a new direction — toward livestock. The family has raised stocker cattle for more than two decades, and with his son Ethan returning from college, they are scaling up the cattle enterprise even more.
Water Limits Force Change
A major factor in this shift is the decline in irrigation capacity, which has dropped by nearly 35% since 2000. Water restrictions make it increasingly difficult to maintain large cotton acreages, pushing Smith to convert more acres to grazing and cattle-focused production.
Rising Input Costs and Market Pressures
The High-Cost Cycle
Smith highlights the challenge of skyrocketing input costs. He notes that whenever government assistance programs provide financial relief, input prices tend to rise soon after, wiping out the benefit. This creates what he calls a “cycle that’s hard to break.”
Integrating Crops and Cattle
To reduce expenses, the family evaluates where they can cut costs without sacrificing productivity. Their cattle program fits well with rotations involving cotton, wheat, oats, millet, and grain sorghum, allowing resources to complement each other and maximize efficiency.
No More “Slow Seasons” on the Farm
The workload has intensified as diversification expands. Smith recalls a time when the operation had slower periods, but those days are gone.
In the past month alone, the family has harvested cotton, planted wheat, and received new cattle shipments. According to Smith, farmers today must keep operations moving constantly to maintain cash flow, leaving little room for downtime.
Cattle Market Opportunities and Challenges
Tight Cattle Supply Keeps Prices High
Smith acknowledges that current record cattle prices are beneficial for sellers, but the supply situation is complicated. With the southern border closed and ongoing issues like the New World screwworm, cattle imports from Mexico have halted since July.
In 2024, the U.S. imported 1.25 million head valued at $1.3 billion from Mexico. With this supply now missing, buyers who relied on imported cattle are competing in the domestic market, helping keep cattle prices elevated.
More Producers Turning to Grazing
Low commodity prices and high expenses are encouraging more farmers to seed wheat or other cereals for grazing, increasing demand for stocker cattle. Combined with the already limited supply, this continues to push prices upward.
Financial Hurdles and Tight Margins
Buying Cattle Requires Bigger Investment
Higher cattle prices mean producers need more capital to purchase the same number of calves. Smith says access to financing is now one of the biggest challenges cattle buyers face.
To limit risk, he advises using tools such as contracts, hedging, or market strategies. Despite high sale prices, profit margins remain narrow because input costs remain high.
Cotton Production Remains Under Pressure
Another Year of Weather-Related Strain
As they wrap up harvest, Smith says this year’s cotton performance depended heavily on localized rainfall. Some areas received enough moisture to produce good yields, while others struggled.
Cutting Inputs and Fighting Grasshoppers
Producers tried to reduce input costs compared with previous years, but higher expenses still make profitability difficult. Smith also faced heavy grasshopper pressure, requiring more pesticide applications than ever before. Unfortunately, the products he used were ineffective, pushing him to explore buffer strips and alternative control methods for 2026.
Looking Toward 2026
Continued Expansion of Cattle
For the future, Smith plans to lean further into cattle production, even if that means reducing cotton acreage again. His goal is to maximize returns from every dollar invested in row crops while growing the livestock side to create steadier income.