Texas Cattle Ranchers suffer as pandemic ravages meat industry

At the end of April,  U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that forced meat packing plants to reopen. The move received mixed reactions, with many health officials warning that reopening such facilities too soon exposed both workers and the food itself to contagion. 

But for the ranchers supplying the factories, life hasn't gotten much easier either. 

CGTN's Alasdair Baverstok took a trip to a Texas cattle farm to find out how COVID-19 pandemc has impacted cattle ranchers.

One cattle Rancher John Warnock says, "The cattle market's not doing very well right now. When you're thinking about sustainable, cheap food, when you buy beef, most people are buying hamburger, you're not buying choice cuts. Steak, ribs, stuff like that. And there's not a whole lot of money in hamburger meat," 

"If you're turning a whole cow into hamburger, and not getting any choice cuts off of it, there's not a whole lot of income."