The early autumn blizzard struck the state with unexpected fury, dumping a record-breaking 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow on Rapid City on Friday, Oct. 4. Other parts of the state got more, with some regions reporting snowdrifts almost 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep.
As troubling as this storm was for people, the blizzard was devastating for the region's cattle. Some ranchers are reporting losses of more than 90 percent of their herds. And help, unfortunately, is not on its way to South Dakota's $7-billion cattle industry, due to the shutdown at federal agencies — a shutdown that some claim the state's congressional representatives helped to create.
As the snow melted, the losses mounted for the state's ranchers, who now face the grisly task of documenting the number of dead, rotting cattle carcasses littering their land. "There are no words to describe the devastation and loss," Joan Wink of Wink Cattle Company told Modern Farmer. "I'm not going to take photos. These deaths are too gruesome. Nobody wants to see this."
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Many of the cattle died of hypothermia — winds in the blizzard reached 70 mph (113 km/h) — or were suffocated under deep snowdrifts. The week prior to the blizzard, temperatures were above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), and cattle did not yet have the protection of thick winter coats of hair.
Normally, the state's cattle ranchers would apply for assistance from the Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But with that office shuttered by the federal government shutdown — now in its third week — that agency is closed.
