Posted on 10/07/2013 6:29:58 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A record-breaking storm that dumped 4 feet of snow in parts of western South Dakota left ranchers dealing with heavy losses, in some cases perhaps up to half their herds, as they assess how many of their cattle died during the unseasonably early blizzard.
Meanwhile, utility companies were working to restore power to tens of thousands of people still without electricity Monday after the weekend storm that was part of a powerful weather system that also buried parts of Wyoming and Colorado with snow and produced destructive tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa. At least four deaths were attributed to the weather, including a South Dakota man who collapsed while cleaning snow off his roof. …
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Looking for silver lining...
/johnny
I’ll get the BBQ sauce if someone has the charcoal and beer.
Get that global warming off my lawn.
This was a bit unfortunate.
While Climate Change Channel was heartbroken over the fail of Karen, they were able to switch panic mode to Winter Storm Atlas.
Awful. Meanwhile, here in Vermont, so far it’s been warmer than usual. We have had several frost warnings, but as yet not a single solid freeze, which is very unusual in our part of the state.
The Farmer’s Almanac and the woolly bear caterpillars are both forecasting a colder winter than usual. Well, I hope we don’t get anything like this storm in South Dakota. Cows are still out here. They don’t usually leave the pastures until after the first snowfall.
From my trips through W SD, they could use more “loafing” sheds.
Just out of curiosity, what do they do with the cattle during the usual winter snow and cold?
/johnny
Not funny
If they’re like most places with four seasons they bring the cattle into the lower or closest pasture to the barn, shelter them there and feed them hay over the winter, as opposed to grazing in upper pasture and overnighting there in warmer weather.
Ahh, I’m just the fourth player but, I’m bettin as a fourth player in this hand Paladin2 has the Royal Flush.
We live just 10 miles west of Rapid City, SD. It looks like Armageddon here. We finally got electric power about three hours ago..............but so many do not have power yet. We have 12 foot drifts around our house. Thankfully, we have a snowplow and generator. This is such a heavy, wet snow. On our forty acres, we counted about 700 trees (ponderosa pine) down. Anyone need firewood? I’m a “prepper”, so we have plenty of food and water stored, but so many don’t. We were finally able to make it to town late this afternoon for milk, bread, produce, etc., but the shelfs were nearly bare. The stores are hoping to get supply trucks in sometime tomorrow. We were able to help some of our neighbors with essential groceries.
This was a “wake up” call for every one to “prep”.
I miss Rapid City. Was stationed for 3 years at Ellsworth.
My favorite place in the world was Randy’s Pizza Barrel.
Prayers up for the ranchers.
Joe Bastardi says the wet east coast US and the massive snow cover right now in Siberia, means you will get clobbered this winter. Hoping for 10 feet of snow in DC myself.
BTW, if the farmer’s almanac can predict a cold winter, I think the animals know it’s coming.
Cattle caught out on open range during a blizzard can and do die en masse. I recall seeing footage of hay being airlifted by helicopter to stranded herds in the past. Even a thunderstorm with large hail can kill quite a few. They’re hardy, tough animals but they’re not invincible. They can be rather lacking in instinct.
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