Weathering The Storm

While most Kimballites were hunkered down in their houses during the recent weather events, ranchers were out in the elements trying to feed, water and take care of their livestock. Each individual rancher has their story – some were fortunate to have moved their stock home to their corrals, while others were in the pasture or out on cornstalks.

"It was tough," local producer Doug Lukassen said in reference to the recent blizzard, then the extreme cold snap and raging winds of last week. Lukassen said they "lost a few," but his concern now had turned to the calves as pneumonia was beginning to set in.

In preparation for the weather events, Lukassen said they had fed everything beforehand. According to Lukassen, nothing got out during the first blizzard, but when the second set of winds hit the area he said he had half a dozen cows walk right over the fence, which was drifted over. Now, fence building around drifts is in order.

Conditions weren't any different by the Colorado state line. Randy Sweley explained that most of his cows were on pasture, so "it is not open so much."

He said that it was tough getting around and that he "had to pick my way around" to feed. But Sweley did get everything fed and felt fortunate not to have lost anything.

"Mine got along good" for the conditions, Sweley said. He now has everything at home where it is easier to take care of.

One water tank that he was unable to get to for a while had 6 inches of ice.

Doing a good deed for a neighbor, Sweley took a bale to some horses. The "visibility was so bad" that he went off the road and had to call a neighbor to pull him out.

North of Dix, the Engstroms had cows on a stubble field, and they went through the electric fence. Larry Engstrom said the cows "walked with the wind, in a northwest direction for five miles."

They were unable to get water to them, but Engstrom said that they must have gotten enough moisture from the snow on cornfields and CRP as they traveled.

"They survived," he stressed.

During the hostile negative temperature cold spell, the Engstroms' secret weapon was to keep the feed tractor running continuously, all day and all night.

Engstorm said "nothing else would start" – but everything got fed with the one tractor.

Engstrom said, "In hindsight," which is best after the storm, "we should have brought them home, which was only 3 miles."

The Panhandle spirit was alive and well during both storms. It is a well-known fact that those with a four-wheel drive tractor and blade broke roads open so their neighbors could feed and take care of their livestock.

One local producer with a four-wheel drive tractor said, "We tried to do what we could." And they did help save their neighbors' livestock.

Once a road was open didn't necessarily mean it was open for long, as the wind blew and roads continued to be blown shut with hard packed snow.

Unfortunately, the snow isn't doing the wheat fields or pastures much good, as most of the snow is in the ditches or in 10 foot drifts by the trees.