It is all hands on deck these days at the Western Slope Cattlemen's Livestock Auction barn in Loma.

"Normally we see between 200 and 400 cows each week, but this year we've been running 500 to 1,500... which is just abnormal," Bill Martin said.

Martin says the spike in animals is not out of choice, but rather a byproduct of the weather. Drought conditions across Colorado are forcing ranchers to sell off this year.

"It's been about 30 days, roughly, since we've seen appreciable rainfall in the Grand Valley," First Warn 8 Meteorologist Eddie Sheerr said.

Dry and hot conditions have made the drought in our state the worst in years and the situation is being magnified on the Western Slope.

"The area of Colorado seeing severe drought right now is northwest Colorado," Sheerr added. "On this day last year, nearly 60% of the state was not experiencing a drought. But this year, all of the state is under a drought."

Year to date, Grand Junction's rainfall is down nearly three inches - about 30% - which makes it tougher and more expensive for ranchers to feed their animals.

"Three inches is quite a bit," Sheerr said. "Grand Junction averages about nine inches of precipitation a year. So if we are already down three inches, that's a third that we haven't seen this year that we need to see."

The result is a bump in business at the auction house right now, but is one that could hurt them for years to come.

"It makes us money this week, but we need these guys to stay in business because we depend on them year-round for income for the next ten years."

Officials say beef prices are staying relatively calm despite the flush of animals in the  market. That is partly due to the fact that large companies that are buying the livestock can afford to ship them thousands of miles to where the feed is, they say.