Posted on 10/14/2013 3:19:18 PM PDT by yoe
Last Wednesday, the weather was sunny and warm at Bob Fortune's cattle ranch in Belvidere, S.D. On Thursday, it started raining. By Friday night, the rain had turned to snow. By the weekend, the snow turned to a blizzard with 60 mile an hour winds. By the weekend, Fortune says, "the cattle just couldn't stand the cold anymore, and they just started dying."
Only a year after sweeping drought left ranchers across South Dakota desperate for feed, this week they're just beginning to reckon with a freak early snowstorm, dubbed Winter Storm Atlas, that wiped out an estimated 10 percent of the cattle in the state's western region, up to 100,000 animals. In the coming weeks they will dig through the mess to try to tally the damage to an industry worth $5.2 billion statewide, that also killed an unknown number of horses, sheep, and wildlife. Fortune, president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, says losses like this would be enough to cripple many ranchers even in the best of times, especially with the loss of future calves next spring whose would-be mothers were killed. But with the federal Department of Agriculture still shut down, ranchers are cut off from the livestock insurance that would normally keep them afloat following a disaster like this.
"We have no idea if there'll be federal aid for these ranchers," Fortune says.
After catastrophes, livestock producers typically turn to the federal Farm Service Agency's livestock indemnity program, which offers compensation for lost cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and other livestock. As long as the government stays shut, FSA offices nationwide will be shut too, leaving ranchers without support. A spokesperson for the state's Department of Agriculture said the most their office can do is offer advice on how to document and carry out a cleanup effort. Even before the shutdown, the insurance program was already threatened by delayed passage of a new federal farm bill, which allots money for a range of food and ag-related programs from food stamps to incentives to go organic. While the shutdown debate rages, the Senate and House are still hashing out the farm bill, leaving the livestock indemnity program in midair.
The weekend blizzard, which dumped up to five feet of snow in some places, was "very historic," according to meteorologist Darren Clabo at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's Institute of Atmospheric Sciences. Rapid City, the largest city in the state's western half, received the most snowfall ever recorded in October, and the third-highest one-day snowfall for any time of year. While South Dakota residents and ranchers are accustomed to brutal winters, Clabo said, "we don't get these kinds of storms in the first week of October." That means that cattle were still covered in thin summer coats, and left out in exposed summer pastures.
The storm, Clabo said, was the result of a strong high-altitude storm that pushed in quickly from the Pacific, gathered energy over the Rockies, and peaked just over Rapid City. While it's too early to say what role climate change might have played in this particular storm, higher levels of heat trapped in the atmosphere can result in more frequent and severe storms. Last month's IPCC report found it "very likely" that extreme precipitation events like blizzards will increase over this century.
For now, the South Dakota state Department of Agriculture is picking up the slack as best it can, urging ranchers to fully document their losses so they can get aid if and when it reappears, said spokesperson Jamie Crew. Meanwhile, Fortune and his peers will continue to dispose of dead livestock, which state law requires be cleaned up within 36 hours for public health reasons.
"The more snow melts," he says, "the more dead cattle they're finding."
I recall driving across Northern Oklahoma after a particularly brutal blizzard in the late seventies-early eighties. The cattle were lined up, facing south, against the fence on the north side of OK-11 west of Medford -- frozen to death.
Back in the days of the Open Range, the "drifting" phenomenon of cattle before a blizzard was a recognized factor in the High Plains. The Panhandle Drift Fences were to help control this factor, keeping the free-ranging cattle north of the Canadian Breaks in the Panhandle.
The linked article notes that, in the Winter of 1884-85, an estimated 200K free-range cattle died when they finally reached the Panhandle Drift Fence.
The incident led to the abandonment of the Free Range and fencing off properties -- which enabled a policy of improving pastures.
It does not require much to shelter a cow. A simple wall of tin is often put up for them to take shelter behind. With some hay, cattle can survive as the hay is broken down in the stomachs by bacteria and produces heat in the body.
Wind is the killer.
Ever notice how buffalo face the wind but cows will turn their tail to it.
**Nervous Tick**
Texas Fever tick? Have you been dipped? ;-D
I've never observed buffalo behavior in heavy weather, so I'm not familiar with what you describe.
A buffalo's tail is comparatively small in comparison with the rest of the body. I wonder if that explains the difference...
You who think the ranchers should build shelters or snow fencing (what?) may never have lived in the West, probably have never seen, much less participated in, a real cattle drive, do not know what is involved in livestock management, and have no idea of the distances and numbers involved. We are not talking about a run-in shed for half a dozen horses on ten acres. Believe me when I tell you that the ranchers are not uncaring and do not deliberately treat their animals in a cavalier fashion because they think government insurance will cover them. They are not in control of when their animals’ winter coats come in, which is regulated by the length of the days. Finding and driving cattle in huge distances is difficult enough in good weather, but in a blizzard it is not going to happen. Neither horses, trucks, ATVs, nor helicopters (which ranchers often use for serious drives) are going to work in blizzards.
I'm just telling you...around here we've had some hard snows...and hard weather. Most ranchers have 4x4 feed trucks...because the country is rugged. Most ranchers have pellet feeders and round bales....and able top get that feed to their cattle.
I lived in SoCal in '76.........
No, you aren’t getting blizzards then. We have had blizzards where we are on snow mobiles and the bales and pellet feeders are under the snow. Well under the snow. 4x4s don’t get to these places until a path is cleared or the snow has melted. And you don’t drive in the blizzard, you sit and wait it out and then think about getting out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.