Western South Dakota

[Kathie in Thorp]

Lon is also out there in SD. Anyone heard from him?

 

[I luv herfrds]

Glad to hear from you Doug.
I first heard about it through Facebook. Most of the people I know had heard nothing either.

There is a group on there collecting bred heifers, weanling heifers, bred cows of young age and even horses to help these guys out.

 

[Taurus]

Glad to hear from you Doug.
I first heard about it through Facebook. Most of the people I know had heard nothing either.

There is a group on there collecting bred heifers, weanling heifers, bred cows of young age and even horses to help these guys out.

Someone just donated some quality roping Corrientes to the folks that lost their roping stock in SD. And I believe that over 100 head of heifers/cows being donated to the folks in SD at this moment. :cboy:

 

[heath]

Heres a link to a Washington post article. The article along with the comments give an idea what the libs mentality is.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/gov ... -ranchers/

 

[HDRider]

Heres a link to a Washington post article. The article along with the comments give an idea what the libs mentality is.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/gov ... -ranchers/

Such vitriol comments, filled with jealousy and hate. Where does this come from? What is wrong with people?

 

[ibetyamissedme]

There is a huge disconnect between the average american and the beef industry. Even more startling is the disconnect between some people who produce beef and the beef industry.
The comments made in the article about beef being bad for you, where do you think those ideas originate? In large part they originate from some of people raising the beef. Take this website for example, for the average american searching this site they would leave with the opinion that beef is not worth eating. In no other industry am I aware of, do the producers bash the very product they raise. Same goes for their opinion of how cattle are raised, after reading time after time here at cattle today how terrible the conditions are at feedlots, and how terrible the beef raised there is. I guess it is not all the hard to believe the disconnect now is it?

 

[W.T]

Doug Thorson people like you are what make the west the place it is. And ranchers are special people. thank you for the share. W.T

Here are a couple posts I put elsewhere.

He!! hath no fury compared to a northern plains blizzard, but the Herefords survived it.

I am not even sure what to say, but I will give you an update. 2-4 inches of rain at 40 degrees and dropping until it started to snow. Anywhere from a foot to 4 feet of snow, the heavy wet kind. The whole time the wind was from 40-60. Lasted all of 2+ days. We hadn't even had a frost yet. A week ago it was 90 degrees and with the fall moisture there was some green grass. Cattle didn't have the winter hair and most were still is summer pasture. With the rain first it really didn't matter. I moved some to winter pasture and they drifted to the fence anyway. There is also a lot of crop left in the field and the trees did all have the leaves. Now most leaves don't have trees.

Losses are devastating. I was on the Eastern edge. East of me the losses were minimal. Close by here they will average 10-20%. North and West,,,,,,,?????????? I know of cattle that drifted 15 miles, dead ones at every fence before they broke through. Every snowbank also. I know of more than one bunch that just walked into a dam because the water was warmer than the air. A couple dams they drifted into and walked across after it was full of deads. There are some that were unlucky and lost over 50% some were lucky and didn't. I herd of a guy that locked his in where he feeds calves all winter and lost 30 crowding in an open shed. I only know of 3 that lost nothing and I am one. Almost feel guilty. I am helping a neighbor tomorrow sort. Every bunch has several owners after the drift. It will be a long and slow process to sort owners. Calves without mothers won't want to go any direction.

I do think the Hereford blood saved me. Thicker hides and less likely to tear things down saved them. My herd bulls were out as open as anything and even though they walked over one fence they just stood it at the next one. Cows and bred heifers just stood it where they were. Not 300 yards from where my cows stood it there was a black bunch drifted to the creek where they couldn't cross and 4 dead there out of 50.

Not sure what else to say, my mind is mush. I am sure the Colorado flood was every bit as bad or worse. Seems like there was somwhee else devastated by sudden death also but we will just do what all our forefathers did, pick ourselves up an keep on. Some will be done and that is too bad. I am sure that will mean more land farmed up but progress will happen. I plan on standing in the way of farming progress as long as possible though.

Post #2

I am back. If today ever comes back around, shoot me. Everything I said last night was with rose colored glasses.

We sorted all day with a big crew and got 1700 back to where they belonged. Only problem is there should have been 2500.

Sorry, I wrote 6 paragraphs about what I saw today and then deleted them. What I really saw today was a group of great cattlemen (and women) who worked their ass off all day to get the job done and never once got on the grouch. At the end we had 15 riders who went and raised a glass to life on the northern plains.I couldn't be prouder of the people I workeed with today. 20 Miles in both directions and just like I did, we showed up to help just because. Life is good and today I worked with some of the greatest people in the world. I wouldn't wish today on my worst enemy but I was a part of something that few will ever expierience.

Character is not formed when you are walking on the mountaintops among the roses but on the valleys it takes to get to them.

 

[HDRider]

I thought some of you might like reading this...

http://prettywork.wordpress.com/2013/10 ... th-dakota/

Questioning Cattle Deaths in South Dakota
Posted on October 11, 2013

I've been reading through blog posts about the aftermath of last weeks winter storm in South Dakota. I came across a couple of news articles on CNN and NBC News sites. And then I did something I never, ever should have done. I scrolled down to the comments section. Word of advice: Do Not Scroll Down to the Comments Section. Ever.

It's not a nice place. People are very nasty there. It made me sad and mad and dumbfounded. There were so many accusations comments from so many people who very clearly of little to no understanding of ranching or livestock. But boy oh boy, do they have opinions!

Follow the link above for more.

 

[Doug Thorson]

Yes, never read the comments, even on a small newspaper in Western SD. I haven't read them on any of these stories but even Rapid City Journal gets some nasty comments. I think a lot of it is people with nothing else to do so they just look to start a fight regardless of what the subject is.

It is impossible to win a battle of the mind with an unarmed person

 

[I luv herfrds]

:lol2: :lol2: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
That is the truth Doug! Not going to bother to read the opinions too many unarmed people out there!

 

[Son of Butch]

Update on the Western South Dakota snow storm.
13,977 head of cattle have been verified as having died from the early October snow storm.
Less than the in excess of 20,000 - 30,000 head first reported by the news media, but still very, very devastating.
Most died from congestive heart failure brought on by hyperthermia.