This is terrible. I had no idea it had gotten this bad. :'(
DENVER (AP)--Up to 15,000 cattle may have been killed by a snowstorm that buried southeastern Colorado under several feet of snow and built drifts up to 15 feet high, a Colorado Cattlemen’s Association official said Monday.
That would be more than four times higher than the 3,500 cattle that state officials estimated were killed, but the smaller number included only range cattle and did not account for thousands of livestock in feedlot pens.
Terry Fankhauser, executive vice president of the state cattlemen’s association, said he estimates between 10,000 and 15,000 cattle died. He said he based his estimate on conversations with ranchers and feedlot owners.
“We’re waiting on pins and needles“ to hear whether ranchers will receive federal disaster aid as requested by the state, Fankhauser said.
State officials have said many ranchers will not have an accurate count of their losses until more snow melts. Fankhauser estimated that up to one-third of ranchers in the area have not located all their cattle.
A storm that hit Dec. 28 left thousands of cattle stranded without food or water in the southeastern part of the state. Colorado National Guard troops used helicopters and large trucks to deliver hay to livestock.
By Monday, many roads had been made passable and ranchers were able to start feeding their own cattle after the second of three snowstorms to hit Colorado in two weeks, said Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for a state team coordinating relief efforts.
Thirteen Colorado counties -including the cities of Denver, Boulder and Pueblo -- were included in the emergency declaration issued by President Bush Sunday for the Dec. 18-22 blizzard. A second declaration was issued for Otero County in southeastern Colorado for the Dec. 28-31 storm, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jerry DeFelice said.
The action makes the counties eligible for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 75% of costs for snow removal, police overtime, shelter operations and emergency medical care.
The declarations do not trigger low-interest loans to ranchers, nor does it provide for direct assistance to households or businesses, DeFelice said.
In southeastern Colorado, where Colorado National Guard troops and crews from several state agencies plowed roads and used helicopters and trucks to deliver hay to isolated livestock, counties were taking over more of the storm cleanup.
Crews were still delivering hay by ground, but most ranchers were able to start clearing some of their own roads and get to their cattle, McConnell said.
The next big concern is rounding up enough hay for area herds, said Scott Brase of the Colorado State University agriculture extension agency. He said most ranchers were short on hay because of the ongoing drought, and now the grass is under several feet of snow. The price of a ton of alfalfa hay has risen from $130 before the storm to more than $200 now, Fankhauser said.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=96380
DENVER (AP)--Up to 15,000 cattle may have been killed by a snowstorm that buried southeastern Colorado under several feet of snow and built drifts up to 15 feet high, a Colorado Cattlemen’s Association official said Monday.
That would be more than four times higher than the 3,500 cattle that state officials estimated were killed, but the smaller number included only range cattle and did not account for thousands of livestock in feedlot pens.
Terry Fankhauser, executive vice president of the state cattlemen’s association, said he estimates between 10,000 and 15,000 cattle died. He said he based his estimate on conversations with ranchers and feedlot owners.
“We’re waiting on pins and needles“ to hear whether ranchers will receive federal disaster aid as requested by the state, Fankhauser said.
State officials have said many ranchers will not have an accurate count of their losses until more snow melts. Fankhauser estimated that up to one-third of ranchers in the area have not located all their cattle.
A storm that hit Dec. 28 left thousands of cattle stranded without food or water in the southeastern part of the state. Colorado National Guard troops used helicopters and large trucks to deliver hay to livestock.
By Monday, many roads had been made passable and ranchers were able to start feeding their own cattle after the second of three snowstorms to hit Colorado in two weeks, said Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for a state team coordinating relief efforts.
Thirteen Colorado counties -including the cities of Denver, Boulder and Pueblo -- were included in the emergency declaration issued by President Bush Sunday for the Dec. 18-22 blizzard. A second declaration was issued for Otero County in southeastern Colorado for the Dec. 28-31 storm, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jerry DeFelice said.
The action makes the counties eligible for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 75% of costs for snow removal, police overtime, shelter operations and emergency medical care.
The declarations do not trigger low-interest loans to ranchers, nor does it provide for direct assistance to households or businesses, DeFelice said.
In southeastern Colorado, where Colorado National Guard troops and crews from several state agencies plowed roads and used helicopters and trucks to deliver hay to isolated livestock, counties were taking over more of the storm cleanup.
Crews were still delivering hay by ground, but most ranchers were able to start clearing some of their own roads and get to their cattle, McConnell said.
The next big concern is rounding up enough hay for area herds, said Scott Brase of the Colorado State University agriculture extension agency. He said most ranchers were short on hay because of the ongoing drought, and now the grass is under several feet of snow. The price of a ton of alfalfa hay has risen from $130 before the storm to more than $200 now, Fankhauser said.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=96380
