Once a little molasses is stirred in, much of this trash becomes cattle feed, trucked just a short distance to the feedlots dotted among the cotton fields.

NPR: Texas Cotton: 'Farmer Profits at Every Step'

With grass scarce, hay prices became too costly, forcing some ranchers to feed their cattle a mixture of prickly pear cactus and molasses.

CNN: U.S. drought biggest since 1956, climate agency says