More than half the country is in a state of drought and while farmers and ranchers definitely feel the impact on their livelihood, experts say consumers will soon pay the price.
Jerry Mader has raised cattle for more than 40 years and he says this year is like no other.
This has to be one of the driest ones I've seen especially for just one year for being dry. We don't have very much hay and our water is getting bad," said Mader.
The dry weather creates a vicious cycle for farmers and ranchers that experts say will eventually trickle down to the consumer.
"Normally, with in the food supply or gasoline, the prices go up on the retail level, but they never come back down," said Lyndell Petersen, Chairman of the Pennington County Board of Commissioners and former rancher.
As the drought reduces the corn harvest, that drives up the price of animal feed and in turn will raise meat prices at the store.
But there's another ingredient in the mix that will drive prices up.
A shortage of feed will cause many ranchers to sell off some of their livestock.
"It helps alleviate the feed problem a little bit, trying to stretch that out as much as you can. But at the same time the markets will be flooded with them," said Kory Bierle, a Rancher from Midland.
And the flooded market will create a future shortage of cattle.
"The flooding of the market with the cattle will actually keep the price of beef steady for a while or maybe even lower it. But then next year there is going to be a shortage," said Bierle.
A shortage, consumers will feel in their wallets, as early as next year as the price of beef is expected to rise.
But ranchers say so far what's done is done.
"There's no way that the weather could change and put us back to a position that would be normal, or even close to it," said Petersen.
While we won't see a rise in prices at the store this summer, experts predict by this Fall we'll notice a price increase in produce; especially corn.
And early next year, the predicted beef shortage will drive up those prices as well.
