Texas Ranchers Scrambled to Keep Animals Alive in Extreme Cold

February 22, 2021 by

Texas ranchers worked overtime to haul water and hay to cattle to keep them alive during a freak winter storm, but some cows succumbed to unusual icy temperatures that also killed chickens, idled meat plants and threatened crops.

The deaths of baby cows in the top U.S. cattle state and struggles to care for surviving livestock are the latest challenges for ranchers who over the past year have dealt with COVID-19 cutting demand for meat at restaurants and shuttering slaughterhouses.

In Texas, home to more than 13 million cattle, ranchers spent long, cold hours breaking up ice in water tanks and on frozen ponds so animals have something to drink. Icy conditions turned diesel fuel into a useless gel in tractors. Ranchers said they are used gasoline-powered pickup trucks to transport hay that cattle can eat and use for warm bedding.

Animal mortality insurance protects against the premature death, usually by non-natural causes such as extreme weather or accidental shooting, of insured animals. The cost may depend on the perceived risk, as well as the number, types and health conditions of animals covered. Coverage is typically limited to a set of causes for animals’ deaths that are specified in the insurance contract. The costs of replacing the animal and loss of use or revenue are usually covered. The policyholder has the duty to keep the insurance company notified if anything adverse occurs to the insured animal(s).

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Kaylin Isbell, a rancher in Florence, Texas, said a few cows and sheep had died after birth. Babies are particularly vulnerable to the shock of the cold when they leave their mothers’ warm wombs covered in fluid. Isbell said her mother-in-law took newly born sheep into a spare bedroom in her home to keep them warm.

The cold will also kill oats Isbell planted for young cattle to graze on, she said. As a result, Isbell said she will need to sell the animals earlier than expected, reducing her profit margins.

Ranchers nationwide were already facing higher feed costs as corn and soybean prices soared to multi-year highs.

“We just keep going,” Isbell said. “That’s all you can do.”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told Reuters that baby chicks were freezing to death because there was not enough natural gas to heat hatcheries. He said dairy operations dumped $8 million worth of milk down the drains daily because milk processing plants are without power. Grain mills across the state cannot manufacture animal feed without power either, Miller said.

“We’ve got an animal welfare issue going on,” he said.

Major meat processors like Cargill Inc and Tyson Foods Inc. said they suspended operations at some plants.

In Whitesboro, Texas, fifth-generation rancher Austin Miles said he is filling a red 300-gallon tank with water from a hose at his parents’ home two to three times a day and shuttling it to cattle to drink. The pond they would normally drink from froze, he said.

“This is extreme for us,” Miles said. “Our infrastructure was just not quite set up for these prolonged cold periods.”

The storm has killed at least 21 people across four states, and temperatures are forecast to remain 20 to 35 degrees below average across parts of the central and southern United States for days.

Cattle could suffer from respiratory problems once the deep freeze gives way to warmer temperatures, said Missy Bonds, assistant general manager of her family’s ranch in Saginaw, Texas.

“Mother Nature needs a Xanax,” she said.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by David Gregorio)