AUSTIN – Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs announced last week that livestock producers in 216 drought-stressed Texas counties may be eligible for $14.5 million in assistance under the recently announced federal Livestock Assistance Grant Program.

Karnes County is among the 216 counties listed.

The livestock block grant is part of a broad-based national drought disaster assistance program for American farmers and ranchers announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week.

USDA will distribute $50 million in state block grants to 20 states to help livestock producers recover losses suffered because of the ongoing drought.

Assistance may cover such items as the cost of lost forage, supplemental feeding, the cost of relocating livestock to new pastures and the cost of emergency water supplies.

The Texas Department of Agriculture is working with statewide agriculture and livestock groups to establish the criteria for distributing the funds in Texas.

"The funds released by USDA will provide a much-needed infusion of dollars to Texas producers devastated by the ongoing drought," Combs said.

"With the entire state facing unprecedented economic setbacks because of this year’s drought, I appreciate all that Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has done to help our hardworking producers recover some of their losses during these desperate times.

"We will be working closely with our livestock groups, the Governor’s Office and USDA to set up the criteria, announce a sign-up period and distribute the funds from the block grant to our producers as quickly as possible," Combs said.

Only livestock producers in the eligible counties who suffered a loss of forage production because of the 2006 drought may receive assistance.

Payments are limited to $10,000 and cannot exceed the amount of lost forage production and related losses.

For timely information on the Livestock Assistance Grant Program for Texas, please visit TDA’s Web site at www.agr.state.tx.us under "New at TDA."