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Storm yet another setback for cattle ranchers

Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 3, 2007 at midnight

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The winter storm that put about 340,000 cows and steers at risk of dying could be the final blow for southeast Colorado cattle ranchers.

A 1997 blizzard killed 28,000 head of cattle in the Arkansas Valley. And those ranchers have endured droughts for years, with a wheat crop last year that was just 40 percent of normal.

"They get hit with this and it's another black eye," said Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament.

Livestock accounts for more than 70 percent of farm revenues in Colorado, with reciepts exceeding $3 billion in 2006. Southeast Colorado is a major cattle production area in the state.

Last week's blizzard left breeding cows and feed lot cattle stranded in drifts up to 15 feet high. Many of the cows are close to calving. The storm has suffocated some and left many more without food or water for days.

Experts cannot yet estimate the storm's economic damage to the roughly 1,500 ranching families in the affected area. Ranchers will pay more for their animals' emergency provisions and any care to resuscitate them. A breeding cow is worth between $1,000 and $1,500, feed lot cattle slightly less.

While insurance may cover livestock losses due to winter storms, few farmers carry it, said Troy Bredenkamp of the Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau and the state of Colorado are asking for federal aid. Aside from loans, they're seeking short-term cash to rent heavy snow-removal equipment.

"Right now, literally, what is needed is money in hand," Bredenkamp said.

But federal loans aren't the answer, Ament said. "It's getting enough revenue to pay it off."

He said that when farmers lose thousands of head of breeding cattle, the economic ripples are felt across the state. It becomes difficult to supply feedlots and packers.

"All of a sudden in Denver, you don't see as much beef in the supermarket," he said.

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