Thousands of cattle have died in Kansas due to excessive heat, humidity, and a lack of feed supplies caused by high inflation that until now the Biden administration has still no solution.
According to Reuters, at least 2,000 cattle have died, Matthew Lara said, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. According to the publication, this estimate comes from establishments that contacted the agency for assistance in disposing of deceased livestock.
Reuters added that the cattle perished from heat stress caused by the extreme heat and humidity, according to Scarlett Hagins, a representative for the Kansas Livestock Association.
In widely seen video footage, rows of carcasses are shown lined up along the edge of a farm field.
Thousands of cattle suddenly died last weekend in Kansas. The reason given – high temperatures. pic.twitter.com/Gd0I5k5eRP
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) June 15, 2022
Temperatures in western Kansas reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperatures expected to rise to approximately 110 over the weekend, Drew Lerner, president of World Weather Inc. said.
The heat was an added insult to livestock farmers who had already had to reduce cow size due to increasing food and grain prices brought on by the turmoil in Eastern Europe.
“When it gets hot, you’ve got be to out every day and making sure that their water is maintained,” Brenda Masek, president of the industry association Nebraska Cattlemen, said, according to the outlet.
The figure from the state health and environment agency reflects only the losses at farms that asked for help in disposing of carcasses, suggesting the actual tally could be higher.
The temperature in Haskell County soared from a pleasant 79.9 degrees on June 9 to a scorching 101.1 degrees just two days later. According to weather statistics from Kansas State University, three additional days with triple-digit highs peaked out at warmer than 104 degrees.
“It’s a significant impact,” Scarlett Hagins of the Kansas Livestock Association tells local TV station KAKE, adding that the market-ready value for each animal would have been around $2,000.
“Any kind of animal loss is significant to a producer, to cattle feeder, to a rancher. No one wants to see any kind of loss like this,” she said.
Sources: Westernjournal, Thehitc, Dailymail, Reuters