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By Cat Urbigkit, Variety Composing writer
Many Wyomingites understand that this has actually been an extraordinary winter season in parts of the state, with heavy snows followed by high winds and freezing temperature levels.
What many people don’t understand, nevertheless, is that the conditions have actually triggered an emergency situation on substantial parts of Wyoming’s southwestern rangelands and surrounding parts of northern Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. Storms started striking these lower elevation rangelands, consisting of Wyoming’s Red Desert, in mid-November, bringing winter season conditions to the desert variety completely a month previously than typical. The scenario has actually aggravated significantly as the area has actually been struck with serious conditions for the last 2 months.
Wandering snow has actually caught livestock and sheep and avoided the animals from getting to appropriate feed. County roadway departments and energy business have actually had crucial functions in attempting to keep roadways open so that ranchers can get to their herds, however animals that were grazing far from streets have actually remained in substantial jeopardy.
Throughout broad swathes of southwestern Wyoming, from Uinta to Carbon counties, and consisting of parts of Lincoln, Sublette, Fremont and Natrona counties (and potentially a couple of others), ranchers have actually been hectic the last couple of weeks in saving their animals, consisting of chartering helicopters and planes in effort to find stranded livestock or sheep. Lots of are participated in emergency situation efforts to rescue their animals from desert rangelands along the checkerboard lands, a mix of federal, state and personal ownership.
While these cattle ranches can normally winter season herds and flocks with restricted quantities of extra feed in many years, this winter season’s extended snow at deep depths, integrated with freezing temperature levels and winds, have actually made that difficult in some locations. For weeks, ranchers have actually struggled to get to their herds and tend to them, and the conditions have actually ended up being too treacherous in some locations for the security of both guy and monster.
I understand of many livestock and sheep manufacturers working with dozers, snow rakes and utilizing other tracked lorries to load tracks for these stranded animals to get them out to the security of raked roadways. From there, the animals can be filled onto semi-tractor trailers and carried to home cattle ranches or to alternative websites with less snow where they can be fed hay while minimizing the danger of damage to the animals or individuals tending to them. On personal land, manufacturers are likewise working to rake feedlines for their stock, and keeping tracks into their stackyards open so they can move kept feed.
Animals manufacturers are trucking in extra (and costly) hay from surrounding states, along with loads of variety cake for livestock and extra corn for sheep. Animals haulers are hectic, battling bad conditions for packing and transferring animals, and attempting to carry the animals in between storms when roadways are satisfactory.
It’s been an attempting last couple of weeks, and the scenario might just aggravate in the coming weeks as staying rangeland animals diminish what feed they can presently gain access to. More animals will require to be moved from the variety if conditions continue to aggravate. However a minimum of this very first couple of days of February have actually included warmer temperature levels.
What Happened
Winter conditions began hitting southwestern Wyoming’s rangelands fully a month earlier than usual, and things started getting serious in the desert by mid-December. A two-day storm dropped 13 inches of snow at Wamsutter by Dec. 14, followed by -25° to -30° temperatures from Wamsutter to Farson two days later. That storm was followed by record-breaking arctic air on Dec. 20-21, with blowing snow resulting in major impacts to roads throughout the state.
An extreme example of wild temperature conditions that week was documented in Casper by the National Weather Service when it found a 140-degree temperature change in 72 hours, and a 70-degree temperature change in only 22 hours. {The temperature went from 28° at 7: 40 a.m. on Dec. 21, to -42° at 5:40 a.m. on Dec. 22, and back up to 28° by Dec. 24 at 7:40 a.m.}
Christmastime came with howling winds, with Casper recording a peak gust of 71 miles per hour, 61 mph at Muddy Gap, 61 mph at Big Piney, and 45 mph in Rock Springs and Riverton. Another winter storm arrived in time for the New Year, dumping another 3 inches in Wamsutter, 16 inches at Big Sandy in Sublette County, and 17 inches in Casper. With blowing snow from Rock Springs to Casper, most of the state’s roads were impacted once again.
A couple of weeks later, Jan. 17-18, another storm brought an additional 5 inches of snow across the broad desert from Wamsutter to Casper, with even more snow measured in other locations. That snow was followed by another round of arctic temperatures, but with some relief as we’ve moved into February.
The National Weather Service in Riverton reported: “It was a very cold and snowy January. Lander and Riverton had their snowiest months, with Casper clocking it at 2nd snowiest.” It was also the third wettest January on record for Big Piney.
For Rock Springs, it’s been colder than normal, with five times more below zero days so far this winter than last winter, and an average temperature of 17°, along with an average wind speed of almost 13 miles per hour. On Jan. 26, the highest wind speed was 46 mph, with gusts up to 56 mph. Those were tough days and nights for anything trying to survive on the range.
Possible Impacts
Livestock producers generally know how to alter their feeding strategies to get their livestock through changing winter conditions, but sudden diet alterations like shifting from rangeland grazing to being fed hay can cause health problems and upset to an animal’s gut microbes so this transition must be managed carefully. An additional concern is that many of these rangeland cows are in their final trimester of pregnancy.
Health effects to livestock from cold stress can be varied and severe, as was found after the 2013 Atlas blizzard that killed up to 30,000 cattle in eastern Wyoming and adjacent states. This report provides a good overview of impacts to cattle.
This winter, one Wyoming producer has already recorded the death of 100 sheep, and I’ve heard of other sheep that were suffocated while bedded in a roadway, trapped underneath a blanket of blowing snow one night. These severe conditions have actually also occurred during the breeding season for domestic sheep flocks, so conception rates are expected to be impacted.
I know a cattle producer who managed to get their cattle home only to have the death loss begin once the animals were on home ground. The cold stress and energy required to get the cows out was apparently just too much.
Wildlife Impacts
I’ve already heard of some pronghorn antelope deaths in southwestern Wyoming, and I’m sure that we’ll learn of other impacts to wildlife herds from state officials later on. Deep snows hinder the animals’ ability to move around to feed in different areas, but wind-crusted snow can make it nearly impossible for the animals to dig down to the feed.
The Wyoming Game & Fish Department put out a press release last week noting the winter conditions and the possible impact to wildlife, quoting Pinedale Region Wildlife Supervisor John Lund “We’re not seeing significant mortality yet, but if winter conditions continue as is, we are likely to see above-average mortality for both mule deer and pronghorn.”
Colorado Parks & Wildlife issued a similar press release about wildlife in Routt County, and Colorado is already dealing with reported death loss to beef cattle, with more losses expected in the coming weeks due to the extreme stress, according to Beef magazine.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has implemented an emergency deer feeding program in northern Utah due to deep snow and poor deer condition. Specially designed pellets are being fed to mule deer at 11 locations in Rich County and one location in Summit County and may be expanded to other areas if needed.
“In the areas where we’re feeding, the vegetation that deer eat in the winter is completely covered by snow,” DWR Northern Region Wildlife Manager Jim Christensen said.
“Mule deer have evolved with harsh weather, and a few deer dying in years with severe weather is expected,” said DWR Huge Game Coordinator Dax Magnus. “This natural cycle can actually benefit a deer population by removing sick animals and older animals that aren’t contributing to the population through reproduction. However, there are times and areas when winter weather is so severe that it becomes necessary to implement emergency feeding to protect adult does, which are the reproductive segment of the deer population. Even with emergency feeding, we still anticipate the loss of some fawns and sick or old animals.”
Idaho Department of Fish & Game officials have initiated a similar emergency feeding program for elk and deer in Bear Lake County in southeastern Idaho, and are meeting with its winter season feeding advisory committee weekly to assess the situation.
“Winter conditions in the southeast corner of the region, specifically areas of Bear Lake, Caribou, and Franklin Counties, have been particularly severe in recent weeks,” the agency reported. “And in spite of feeding, we are still going to lose animals to starvation in those hardest hit areas of southeast Idaho.”
What To Do
Livestock producers who are affected by these severe conditions should contact their local Farm Service Agency office to discuss their situation. Producers should likewise be documenting any losses as well as additional expenses resulting from these conditions.
Both the Colorado and Wyoming Wool Growers are working to update their state officials and congressional delegations about the emergency situation. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s office and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture are working to provide coordination between the agencies and the states in assisting producers.
As for the public, if you see any livestock in the region that appear to be stranded or in distress, please report the specifics to the local sheriff’s department and/or Wyoming Animals Board brand name inspector.
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