As
I begin this, I don't know where to start. This is the worst
in the History of South Dakota, it began with 2 inches of Rain,
then turned into a 3 day Blizzard. The livestock loss is mabe going to
be a 100,000 head. There are Dead cattle & horses laying
everywhere, ditches are full, Interstates,& County
Roads have many dead
cattle, & horses on them.. First a little fact -the
horses &
cattle were slick haired, they never had a chance. Second
thing, they were all still on Summer Range. Long ways from
home. This storm missed by 4 Days, of being a SEPTEMBER
Blizzard. That has never been heard of before, in History. We lost 7
head of Horses, my son's cows & calves drifted 10 miles South
across I-90,then another 4-5 miles further South, some went
into damns & drowned, some were buried over, in 15 foot
drifts. My son had a neighbor with an airplane, they flew the
day after, & spotted 30 out of a herd of 90 pairs, then
how to get to them, also saw the Dead horses from the air. The
horses were some of my Grandkids Rodeo horses, they died a
terrible Death, they were tangled in a Barb wire fence, then
froze to death, as did 1000's of cattle. We have another Ranch
80 miles North of here, the old Ranchers told my
son, not to look in his own pastures, but to go 5 miles or
more to the South & start, we hauled horses to about that
area, unloaded & started riding North- we hadn't ridden 15
minutes ,when we started coming upon the first dead cattle,
they were lots of them my son"s,we found a very few live
ones,& started working them towards the North. There were
many Ranchers, horseback, riding cross country, an old man joined us
& rode with us, for a while. My guess, he was in his
mid-seventies, to 80. He rode beside me for a while, then he said to
me "This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my
life." I looked over at him, his face was Old &
Weathered, there was a Tear running down his cheek. ... One
pasture of ours out there, had 90 pair in it, there were30 cows left
& 60
calves, the rest are dead. many orphaned calves, no mothers,
but some how by the Grace of God ,they survived? The Ranchers are
left with the Monumental task of disposing of the Dead, law says
they have to be either Buried, or Burned, but there are
thousands, & at this time the Ranchers can't get to them,
to stockpile them. One county is going to dig 3 pits, for
people to haul into, another county we have cattle in, have
said nothing yet. Hundreds of people without power yet, we are
fortunate, we were out for 4 days ,then got our electricity
back on. Nothing can help, we expect NO Government help,
& little State help. We live in a very remote sparsely
populated area, with 100's of Cattle Ranches, I realize we did
not loose people or houses, so you are basically on your own. We
have, however, been Declared a
National Disaster Area. WINN IS ALIVE, I had him in, along
with some young horses. As soon as the Blizzard let up, my son
& his wife, got on Winn-- Double & rode out to look
around, he was the only Broke horse in the barn area. His
biggest problem ,was his short legs, he would high-center in
the Snow Banks, then they would just step off ,get him through ,&
get back on. I don't know what else to tell you-Emotions are
High, no one is doing much talking, the Sadness is
everywhere . The photos being taken are so Graphic, that the
media doesn't want to show them? Shouldn't America see what
happens, in our COUNTRY??
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