Up to 60,000 cattle lost in S.D. storm, aid slow to materialize Brett Wessler, Staff Writer | Updated: 10/08/2013 Update: A fund has been established to assist South Dakota cattle producers who have lost livestock following the blizzard. Producers are still tallying losses, but calculations from the early blizzard moving through South Dakota Friday estimate livestock losses near 60,000 head. The blizzard, one of the worst in state history, dumped four feet of snow in some areas leaving cattle producers to dig through snow drifts in hopes of rescuing part of the herd. Some producers lost up to half of their herds and early estimates listed herd losses in western South Dakota to be five percent of the total cattle supply. New reports Tuesday list cattle losses at 60,000 head and more bad news for the state’s producers stem from D.C.’s inability to pass a new farm bill. The Livestock Indemnity Program in place to limit the losses cattle producers incur from natural disasters expired with the 2008 farm bill on Oct.1, the first day of the government shutdown. The paperwork detailing losses with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency won’t be filed until the USDA returns to work. "Those (FSA) offices are furloughed and there are no employees there. They are unable to help us even though they desperately want to," Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, told The Dickinson Press. Other states are also in the process of tallying agricultural losses as the snow affected Colorado and Wyoming and snow and tornadoes hit Iowa and Nebraska. One estimate lists cattle losses in Nebraska over the weekend between 2,000 and 3,000 head. Jodie Anderson, executive director of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, advises cattle producers to document losses so they’re prepared when the shutdown ends and farm bill discussions conclude
10 bucks a bag for cow cake is steep to me. Then again all that corn going to make Automobile Food/Gas is a real waste in the scheme of feeding animals as well as people. Mass media fails to point out the extra steps and lost energy to produce Fuel for cars from corn.
if there were Obammy voters involved the Feds would be all over this .... gooberment closed or not .... the veterans found out how they rank against the Obammy Hispanic voting bloc .... dead last !!!!
Went out and got a dozen nice steaks today. Figured I better do it while the prices are still under $6/lb for porterhouse, ribeye and NY Strips. Sale at Albertson's. Kajun
A Record-Setting Blizzard Killed 75,000 Cows and You Might Not Have Even Heard About It | Video | TheBlaze.com
Yet another failure of the "shut down" in DC. This is what would have been called a diaster of the century for that area if the Media were truly free to report news.. Shoulda Woulda Coulda as from the song by Beverley Knight is what this is all about. The song, written about the breakup of a long term relationship because she decided to put her career first. The present Admin in DC wants to have every day as a career day. This is a national event and in the normal world of "pre shut down" in DC you would see massive airlifts of feed to save what is left. Instead you see more bodies in the snow. The Obama Machine at work.
