Nebraska’s livestock loss count expected to be significant

The losses to the livestock industry are continuing to be estimated at above $400 million from the March storms that hit Nebraska, with an expected additional $450 million in damages to the crop industry.

Nebraska Cattlemen Executive Vice President Pete McClymont declines to estimate the mortality numbers as farmers and ranchers still cannot quantify losses due to high water.

To add perspective, Nebraska is No. 1 in the country in terms of miles of waterways, he said.

“The rivers outside of the Missouri (River) are not deep. When we get extensive flooding it flows negatively and goes to a really bad spot in a hurry,” McClymont said. “That punctuates how bad it can get. The Platte is what we say is a mile wide and a foot deep.”

But it is lesser known rivers, creeks and tributaries that have been the source of so much of the flooding.

“At the end of the day there will be people who won’t know (their livestock losses) for a couple of months,” McClymont said. “Those numbers will be known once they start applying for indemnity funds.”

The hardest hit looks to be the cow-calf sector, he said. The feedlot industry has also had stories of loss and it will feel the impact more at a later time as the loss of calves and young animals is documented and means fewer numbers to enter the feedlots. The pen conditions for feedlot operators have been degraded, too.

Those numbers are important because of Nebraska cattle industry is key to the state’s agricultural sector. The state is a powerhouse in the nation’s beef capacity. In recent years the cattle on feed numbers have Texas and Nebraska neck-and-neck and Kansas is a close third. Nebraska has 1.94 million beef cows, which ranks fourth behind Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri and is the No. 1 in packing plant production.

Joan Ruskamp in Email Reach, Dodge, Nebraska, said the response made by people across the country to help those impacted by the floods is heartwarming. Ruskamp and her husband, Steve, operate a feedlot and grow row crops in Dodge, Nebraska, about 70 miles northwest of Omaha. Joan Ruskamp is the former chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

“No matter what our differences are about one another, people will reach out and help out whether it is with money, hay or supplies,” Ruskamp said. “At the end of the day, we have lot more in common than differences.”

Wearing emotions

The past month has been wearing on livestock producers. At the request of Gov. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Cattlemen hosted a meeting in Chadron specifically to visit with western Nebraska producers.

The theme was to move forward and rebuild. The producers had another message, McClymont said. “Those folks out there are the forgotten people because those folks don’t have the flood damage that the eastern half of the state has but they pointed out to the governor they have had so much water their roads are in terrible shape and they need to have the ability to have access to their cattle and herds, their pastures not only for business purposes but simply for feeding and caring for them,” he said.

They were asking the governor for relief from some of the county regulations blocking access to their own property in which they pay their taxes on.

“When you get out in those areas you don’t have a road for every section it makes even more critical,” McClymont said.

Advice to producers

State and federal officials who were at the Chadron meeting were in unison about the three things producers should do.

“Document, document, document. If you have losses of livestock, take pictures of them and give a timeline stamp if all possible,” McClymont said. Notations should include for added costs for transportation to get feed to the pastures and working areas. “The more documentation you have it makes the best case to state and federal officials.”

Needs

One of the more pressing needs is restoring drinking water to the hardest hit areas. He commended the state’s emergency department and Region 7 of the Environmental Protection Agency for providing testing kits.

For everybody else the immediate needs are the restoration of roads.

Over half of the states roads were impassable at the height of the flooding but since then they are down to since the state designated highways are now under 280 miles. He noted that figure did not include county roads that are also essential to the livelihoods of Nebraskans.

McClymont said he was appreciative of Gov. Ricketts for his leadership and in getting the message to President Donald Trump about the importance of getting resources to hard-hit areas of the state. The president understands the plight of the Nebraskans and other states affected by the storm, the Nebraska Cattlemen executive said, adding that state and federal officials have been working well together and producers are appreciative of those efforts.

The amount of checks added up by donors to Nebraska Cattlemen easily exceeds “six figures” already and those monies will be used to help farmers and ranchers to rebuild, McClymont said.

Other regions

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig noted a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration makes additional funding available to help Iowans recover from flooding in the Missouri River basin. Initial damages to the state’s agricultural industry are estimated at $214 million.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will continue working closely with the governor’s office, other state agencies, the USDA, and the state’s elected officials to coordinate relief efforts, Naig said.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, March 28, visited northeast Kansas communities to meet with local leaders and city officials regarding the recent flooding of the Missouri River. After a visit with Atchison officials, he joined Kansas Farm Service Agency Director David Schemm, National Resources Conservation Service State Conservationist Karen Woodrich and Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam to see firsthand the damage caused by recent flooding and its impact on our farmers and ranchers.

“Throughout the afternoon, we toured areas of Doniphan County near White Cloud where much of the ground is underwater,” he said. “We also met with area producers to discuss assistance available through USDA emergency programs that would help producers remove river debris and recover their ground.”

Local officials continue to be concerned for public roads and highways that have been damaged by floodwaters, along with the increased volume of diverted traffic on insufficient highways, he said.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst noted the damage that is likely to occur in his state in a news release issued in late March.

“The all-time record flooding along the Missouri River is devastating to Missouri farmers. Levees continue to break or be breached, and thousands of acres of extremely productive cropland are once again under water. Many farmers lost crops stored in bins as the Missouri River rose so rapidly there was no time for movement to higher ground.”

Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].