This is your Cownty cattle and drought report. Prices are past sales, not a quote. Five-weight steer calves brought about 386 to 433 dollars a hundred this week, topping out at Beaver, higher than the last sale at 2 of seven area barns. The Cownty five-weight index, all seven barns averaged by head, came in at 412 dollars a hundred, up 3 dollars from last week. On the drought map, severe drought eased in 12 of our 49 counties and grew in none. All 49 of our counties are on this year's Livestock Forage Disaster Program list, and applications are due March first at your county FSA office. Texas's nearest New World screwworm zone is about 299 miles from Amarillo. Barn-by-barn prices and county drought maps are free at cownty dot com.

(About 132 words, 60 seconds. Prices are past sales reported by USDA, not a quote. Source: Cownty, from USDA data.)