Florida is the third-largest beef-producing state east of the Mississippi River and ranks 10th in the nation. But it's getting harder for families like the Barthles to keep their family tradition alive as a business.

Randy Barthle climbs from behind the wheel of his well-used GMC truck into a herd of grumpy looking Brahman cattle.

Several of the dusty-white beasts watched curiously in the late morning sun as he drove across their grazing pasture on the 8,100-acre Barthle Brothers Ranch in San Antonio. Instead of scurrying away when he gets out of the truck, dozens of cows, calves and one truck-sized, grey-humped bull amble toward him silently.

Should any of them get spooked, they could stomp him to death in an instant. Which would be ironic, since they look like half-asleep lop-eared bunnies. If those bunnies weighed 1,500 pounds.

"They think they're getting something to eat," Barthle says, reaching out to gently pat the flat, soft hair on the bridge of one cow's face. "They know that usually when we come out here, it's dinnertime."

Keeping the cattle well-fed and watered is priority No. 1 for Barthle family members, who have operated the ranch since it was formed in the 1930s by J.A. Barthle, grandfather to Randy, his sister, Jan, and their brothers, Mark and Larry. Well-fed cattle make happy cattle, and happy cattle are tender cattle.

The herds of Brangus, Hereford bulls and purebred Brahman they keep in rotation are among Florida's more than 1.1 million head of beef cattle, Florida is the third-largest beef-producing state east of the Mississippi River and ranks 10th in the nation. Florida Gov. Rick Scott proclaimed May as Florida Beef Month for the first time, recognizing cattle as an important part of the state's economy.

But it's getting harder for families like the Barthles to keep their family tradition alive as a business. Inheritance taxes decades ago took a chunk of the ranch when their grandfather died. Fluctuations in the price of beef and the costs of raising cattle swallow more of the profits every year. Changes in the American public's tastes also are proving volatile.

Then there's the fact that their land is being sipped dry by water wells used to keep Pinellas County from going thirsty. The more development encroaches, the fewer resources they have to grow calves and the more creative they have to be in making money from non-cattle businesses.....

              jhouck@tampatrib.com (813) 259-7324

The U.S. is being pummeled by a climate system on steroids. For the year to date, new heat records continue to beat cold records by a staggering 14.7 to 1, which trumps the pace of the last decade by a factor of 7!

And the U.S. southeast is being whipsawed from brutal drought to deluge (via tropical storm), which, curiously enough, is just what scientists have said global warming has started to do in the summertime, too.  Graphs

If you're monitoring the news these days, you're hearing about the declining state of one of Florida's most unique natural assets - its world-class concentration of first-magnitude springs in northern Florida.