1966 South Dakota Blizzard
A snow-covered steer in South Dakota after a blizzard in 1966. NOAA
Mælkeproducenter i det vestlige Texas og østlige New Mexoci er fortsat igang med at vurdere hvor mange dyr der døde i vinterstormen sidste weekend, men antallet vil sikkert stige tiil mere end 30,000, siger en af officiel talsmand for mælkeproducenterne torsdag.

Administrerende direktør for Texas Association of Dairymen, Darren Turley sagde at en anslået 15,000 modne malkekøer var døde i stormens primære nedslagsområde - fra Lubbock west til Muleshoe og nord til Friona, hvor halvdelen af statens top 10 mælkeproducerende kommuner findes, der producerer 40% af statens mælk.


Kommentar: Artiklen :Snow Blizzard kills more than 30,000 dairy cows in Texas, New Mexico (number could climb higher), er ikke videre oversat til dansk.


An agent with New Mexico State University's extension service told Turley the area around Clovis, New Mexico, lost an estimated 20,000 dairy cows.

The number of younger animals killed by Winter Storm Goliath in each state could be just as high as the mature cows, he said.

There will be less milk coming from the region for a while, Turley said,

The snow was just one part of Goliath. It was the wind that led to drifts as high as 14 feet, where many animals died. Wind will push animals into a fenced corner where they can suffocate in snow drifts.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime (storm)," Turley said. "It's a bad deal for producers."

The losses will affect production for about year, he said.

During the storm dairy employees and tanker trucks from reaching farms. Hundreds of loads of milk ready for processing were wasted. Some cows normally milked twice a day went almost two days without being milked, which dries up the cows' milk supply, Turley said.

"The ripples from that are going to depend on how fast those animals' milk production comes back," Turley said.

The Texas producers are working with state environmental officials to find ways to dispose of the carcasses. Some counties are allowing producers to put carcasses in their landfills.

Andle van der Ploeg, owner of Mid-Frisian Dairy near Clovis, said Thursday that he lost just 10 animals, but feels great sympathy for producers he knows who lost hundreds of milk cows.

"It was unbelievable," he said.

Source: Associated Press