We now know that it was the intense heat that killed thousands of cattle since June. “The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is aware of at least 2,000 cattle deaths that occurred in the southwest part of Kansas,” Matt Lara, the agency’s communications director, said on Thursday.
There are innumerable images and videos on social media that document how difficult it is for cows to stay cool. Temperatures reaching higher than 100 degrees, resulted in the mass deaths.
Top U.S. cattle feeding companies sent 1,000-pound carcasses to a Kansas landfill, where they were flattened by loader machines and mixed with trash. Other cattle were buried in unlined graves, a feeding company said.
At least four major cattle providers, Cattle Empire, Friona Industries, NextGen Cattle and Clark County Feeders, have buried cattle in unlined graves on their property, collectively burying over 600 cattle, according to state documents.
Indeed, the actual tally of 2,200 could be higher since the figure from the state health and environment agency reflects only the losses at farms that asked for help in disposing of carcasses. Cattle ranches aren’t required to report those losses, “so we don’t have any data about the extent of the impact.”
A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Agriculture confirmed on Thursday that “several weather factors combined which led to heat stress for cattle that impacted cattle producers.” Nearly the entire western half of Kansas is currently classified as abnormally dry or in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor website.
There are many ways to mitigate the impact of extremely high temperatures on cattle, however, “Fat cattle, those who still are carrying some of their summer hair, and cattle who have suffered respiratory illness are the most susceptible to heat stress.”
