Mullins cattle farmer slowly recovers from South Carolina drought

MULLINS, S.C. (WBTW) — The owner and operator of Atkinson’s Cattle Company in Mullins said this is the worst his 500-acre farm has been since 2007 and 2011 when it comes to the effects of the severe drought since June.

However, over the past two weeks, Don Atkinson said that the farm has received scattered showers of 4 inches of rain, which has made a big difference for his grass and livestock.

“The cattle business, your first job is that you’re in the grass business,” he said.

Atkinson said that in order to raise a cattle farm, grass is needed. If there is not grass, there’s no cows. He said not only have the recent showers helped bring back nutrients to the grass for his cows to eat now and become better beef, but it also helps the grass needed for hay barrels harvested during summer for the winter months.

He said each mature cow needs 4,800 lbs. of grass or hay to eat in the winter months, making the harvest season now dependent on rain to meet this need.

“We started getting moisture and grass come out, and it made a big difference, but you can’t grow cattle without grass,” Atkinson said.

He said with the lack of rain, the grass is growing 7 inches less than it should be during the month of July. Instead of being 24 inches with healthy green roots, it now sits at 18 inches with yellow roots from the drought.

He said he’s now harvesting the hay every 45 days instead of his usual 30, setting him back on preparation for winter season.

The drought still actively going on across South Carolina has hurt many different farmers. Atkinson said for his own family, it’s been a struggle making sure his cows are met to a certain standard of quality while living up to the fourth generation farm’s name.

”Cows are our factories, our employees. They’ve got to get the right nutrients to be able to produce the milk to grow the calf,” he said. “It just makes a tougher day on every day when you have to get up and struggle to make sure your cows are getting the nutrients that they need.”

* * *

Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter , Facebook or Instagram , and read more of her work here .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBTW.