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Winter takes its toll on livestock and dairy production

While many producers in our region battled record cold and snow, for the most part livestock survived the record-breaking weather of February 2019. The same can not be said for dairy and livestock production along the coast and in the mid-west. Only now are estimated beginning to take shape of the impact.

For dairy production in Washington, wet cold in February killed 1,600 head of dairy cattle and many more had frozen udders. In South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa winter snow turned into historic flooding which is continuing as water is being released from above them.

On March 21, 2019 in an interview with Fox Business Network, Agriculture Sonny Perdue estimated that calf loss in Nebraska alone could reach 1 million head. That is a loss of nearly $1 billion. Many producers in the area have also lost mother cows and baby calves. Crop losses in the area could reach over $400 million not to mention the loss of infrastructure of roads, water, rail lines that were damaged.

Be thinking of those in agriculture in these areas and be thankful we only had cold and snow to deal with.

 

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