Crisis looms in snowed-in southeast Colorado

As ag officials brace for cattle carcasses, Owens seeks U.S. aid

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 4, 2007 at midnight

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LAMAR - The weather cooperated Wednesday with Colorado National Guard troops dropping bales of hay from helicopters to stranded and starving cattle, but state officials worry the snow is covering a disaster of epic proportions.

Gov. Bill Owens wrote President Bush on Wednesday asking him to authorize federal funds for the rescue and recovery of livestock and also asked for help through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Prices moved upward on beef markets as nearly 13 percent of the cattle in Colorado stood stranded by historic snowfall.

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar also sought federal disaster relief Wednesday.

Don Ament, director of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, was so pessimistic about the crippling effects of the storm on southeast Colorado, he said his agency would meet Friday to plan for a massive removal of carcasses he believes are buried under the snow.

"We're helping the ones we can see," he said. "But I'm worried about the ones we can't see."

Ament said he's talked to hundreds of ranchers - including one who has been able to find only half of his 600 head of cattle - since the massive storm dumped more than 3 feet of snow, which wind then whipped into snowdrifts as high as 9 feet.

He said they've all said it's worse than 1997, when 30,000 cattle were lost in a storm.

A small percentage of the meat was salvaged that year, Ament said. And the rest was buried in trenches.

Wednesday was also the second day the Colorado National Guard sent out a fleet of helicopters to deliver bales of hay to cattle trudging through snow that often reached their chests.

The weather was good enough to launch 10 helicopters, including a Chinook.

Lt. Darin Overstreet said about 700 bales of hay would be dropped by nightfall.

Staff Sgt. Marc Belo, who was part of a four-man crew on a Black Hawk helicopter, said high winds Tuesday made it difficult to drop the bales accurately and limited the drops to needy cattle.

Wednesday was a different story.

Accuracy counts

Under pale blue skies, the Black Hawk flew from Lamar to the Kansas border, Belo in the back carefully timing the hay drops so they would land on trails forged by the cattle.

"If we don't get them there, it's too hard for them to get to it in the snow," Belo said. "They'll die staring at the food."

From the sky, the landscape was stark-white and resembled the Ice Planet of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back.

Rooftops with partial snowmelts stood out like islands in the sea of white. A long freight train seemed frozen, unable to proceed when the twin pair of rails disappeared under the white canvass.

Cattle drifted in groups of a dozen or so, their paths marked by crooked circles in the deep powder.

The Black Hawk carried about 20 bales of hay, and during its three- hour flight, stopped near Walsh, where a group of ranchers stood ready to load up the aircraft with more hay. Lt. Chris Fischell, the pilot, ran the helicopter close to empty trying to get to as many cattle as he could.

Most of the cattle seen on that sortie seemed healthy; only two dead were seen from the sky. But other flights reported seeing dead cattle as well.

Ament said he not only worried about cattle dying, but also not being found because the snow has piled up so high. "They could've drifted over fences and might be in Kansas by now."

Cattle prices rise

The fallout from the storm reached the business markets as well.

"Consumers are worried beef prices are going to be higher because of the storm," said Erin Golly, vice president of PCI Advisory Services in Waucoma, Iowa.

"Cattle for February delivery rose 0.6 cent - or 0.7 percent - to 93.1 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after reaching 93.45 cents. That's the highest for a most-active contract since Sept. 8. Prices are up 28 percent from a two-year low of 72.75 cents on April 4.

There is concern as well about the cattle weights as snow melts, according to Mark Hitchcock, manager of Agri-Trading LLC in Burlington.

"When it melts, weight gains are going to go down," he said. "The cattle haven't been fed very well and weight gains are going to drop."

Several ranchers said hay is simply a stop-gap measure that doesn't promote weight gain but is just a way to hold things steady. Most cattle are fed a composite of hay and cottonseed in cakes that are more like an energy bar that allows them to put on the pounds.

Colorado had an estimated 2.65 million cattle last January, including both beef and dairy animals, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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