It's estimated that tens of thousands of cows have died in the Panhandle wildfires.
While some people don't think this will have a big impact on meat prices at the grocery store, others like Dr. Rick Avery with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service say it will.
"I think it's safe to say that they'll go up," Dr. Avery says. "The price of beef is already... is at a pretty high level. And certainly, an instance like this, will have an upward effect on pricing moving forward."
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension economist David Anderson says it may be weeks before there are estimates for lost cattle, but he expects the impact of the wildfires to be localized. He adds that the impact to cattle or beef prices won't be as drastic because of the numbers and scale of the entire market.
Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller said last week that individual ranchers could suffer devastating losses, but he predicted the overall impact on the Texas cattle industry would be minimal.
He says cattle raised in the Panhandle are largely "range cattle," not feeder cattle. He added that any impact on the price of beef for consumers would be minimal, and at least a year away from being felt.
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