FOREST, Miss. (WJTV) – Farmers across Mississippi have begun selling their cattle due to the drought.

More than 3,000 heads of cattle were sold on Monday in Forest, Mississippi, at Tadlock Stockyard. Owner David Tadlock said that this is the most cattle they’ve had to sell.

“And reason for that is it’s so dry. It is so dry around here. People ain’t got any grass for the cows to eat. They’re pulling the calves off the cows, selling them much lighter, because they’re not going to gain any weight on the pastures,” he explained.

Tadlock said 90% of the cattle they saw on Monday were already sold to people from other states.

“We’ve been doing this all our life, and we’ve never seen it this dry in this part of the country. We’ve got a place out here in the other, in the town out here. We went up there last Wednesday, and the cattle had run out of water. I mean, the cattle were just bogging down in the pond because they’re just trying to get out and get every little water they could get. And we had to move the cattle,” he said.

Bubba Thompson, a Mississippi farmer, said the number of suicides in farmers has increased drastically in the past couple of years due to stress and unforeseen circumstances.

Farmers said they hope more rain will be in the forecast soon.