January 3, 2007

Cattle producers in western US struggle with latest winter storm

Cattle producers and feeders in the western Plains Tuesday (Jan 2) struggled to recover from the latest winter storm that dumped nearly 3 feet of snow on an area already battered by previous storms.

"It's pretty much pure hell," said Wade Taylor, an Oakley, Kansas, veterinarian specialising in feedlot practice, Tuesday.

Many feedlots were among the estimated 60,000 customers in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas who were without power when the storm finally moved out of the area. However, most have backup generators and can pump water and run feed mills to get by, Taylor said.

News reports said the National Guard and state employees are hauling hay to stranded cattle in pastures as well.

Steve Miller, spokesman for Sunflower Electric Power Corp, an electrical power cooperative hit hard by the storm, said Tuesday he was "taken away by the damage" he'd seen already. "I can still see the ice on the wires," he said.

Miller said that hundreds of electricians, many from surrounding cooperatives, were working to restore power but that power could be down for several days in some places. Many of the electricians were without power at their own houses.

Taylor said some of his clients' lots had 4 1/2 inches of rain followed by 2 1/2 inches of ice "that they could measure" before they were hit with heavy snow.

Cattle will be stressed by this storm, Taylor said. He estimated feedlots in some areas would have 50 to 100 cattle die from the stress, and the survivors could lose 50 to to 100 pounds each just from this storm.