“…It might take days and weeks to get a good handle on what the scope of the impacts would be.”
Julie Ellingson is Executive Vice-President of the North Dakota Stockman’s Association. She says ranchers in Western and Central North Dakota are still assessing the impacts of last week’s crippling blizzard. Ellingson says the storm crashed into the state at one of the worst possible times… calving season…
"…It’s difficult to say at this time of what the scope of those losses are. As you can imagine it takes some time. In some cases, some animals that may have perished are covered in large drifts. Some areas are still inaccessible for people to get to because of the snow.”
Ellingson says along with livestock deaths there are also fences and other outbuildings that sustained damage in the storm. She says despite all the unknown impacts; the storm did highlight the dedication of our farms and ranchers…
“…The cattle care and the stewardship is job one every day on North Dakota’s beef cattle operations and it is really shown during the heart of difficult conditions. Cattlemen don’t get a snow day.”
And as cattlemen recover from the storm, they are also taking a collective breath as another storm system moves in from the Rockies for the weekend. Ellingson says many of the producers are hoping for some moderation with the event.