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Cattle in Kansas Die by the Thousands (NPR.com)

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105482394/cattle-kansas-heat-wave

cows-ap-rc-220616_1655395096149_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg


NPR said:
Intense heat that baked Kansas over the weekend is being blamed for killing thousands of cattle — a toll documented in striking images on social media.

"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, told NPR on Thursday.

Lara also confirmed conditions had made it "difficult for the cows to stay cool."

In widely seen video footage, rows of carcasses are shown lined up along the edge of a farm field. State officials are blaming a heat wave that sent temperatures higher than 100 degrees.

The new losses come as farmers across the Great Plains region are already struggling to cope with drought and high winds, along with the increased threat of wildfires.

It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the deaths​

The figure from the state health and environment agency reflects only the losses at farms that asked for help in disposing of carcasses, suggesting the actual tally could be higher.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Agriculture confirmed to NPR on Thursday that "several weather factors combined which led to heat stress for cattle that impacted cattle producers."

But the representative also noted that cattle ranches aren't required to report those losses, "so we don't have any data about the extent of the impact."

Dangerous weather conditions aren't confined to any one county in Kansas, where beef cattle dominates the agriculture sector, making it one of the main cattle-producing U.S. states.

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.

Heat blasted from under 80 degrees to more than 104​

To get a sense of what the animals were dealing with, it helps to look at the weather's recent whipsaw effect.

Temperatures rapidly spiked in Kansas in the past week, blasting past 100 degrees. Some of the worst heat struck Haskell County in the southwest. In recent years, it's been the top cattle-producing county in Kansas, with 385,000 head of cattle reported in 2021.

In Haskell County, the heat rocketed from a moderate high of 79.9 degrees on June 9 to a scalding 101.1 degrees just two days later. Then came three more days of triple-digit highs that topped out at more than 104 degrees, according to weather data from Kansas State University.

Conditions also became very dry in Haskell, with relative humidity falling from nearly 80% to less than 24%, with zero precipitation over a seven-day stretch. The baking heat was inescapable: even four inches beneath the soil's surface, the temperature reached nearly 92 degrees.

The animals would have been valued around $2,000 each​

"It's a significant impact," Scarlett Hagins of the Kansas Livestock Association tells local TV station KAKE, adding that the market-ready value for each animal would have been around $2,000.

"Any kind of animal loss is significant to a producer, to cattle feeder, to a rancher. No one wants to see any kind of loss like this," she said.

The industry website AG Daily lists ways cattle producers can lessen the risk to their animals, from ensuring they have enough water, space and shade to watching for signs of heat stress, such as protruding tongues and heavy breathing.

"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," the site states.

You guys think inflation is bad now, just wait for the climate change apocalypse destroying farming and grazing land, and the future real estate/housing apocalypse from lack of water making the entire southwest largely inhospitable.

Time to bet big on water stonks.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
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If they can process those cows quickly.....

Though I suspect the FDA would frown at that.

But seriously, this is gonna be a rough year for food prices. Resrurants in particular are gonna have to raise prices to the point where McD is costing Applebee money, Applebee costs Outback money, Outback costs Chops money, and Chops, well.....might as well give up serving the common person at this point.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I don’t buy the “heat” argument for the cattles death. I just don’t. That many? In a place thst absolutely can get that hot? I don’t buy it.

Read the details; it was the heat spike + dramatic drop in humidity. Suddenly having a very "dry heat" role in after being actually bellow normal appears to be what did it.

But honestly.. this shit happens.
 

Trogdor1123

Member
If you have space in your home, buy a quarter or half a cow from a local butcher and have it cut. Freeze it. Half a cow will last a family of 4 for quite a long time. Better meat, and cheaper in the long run.
We do that and supplement with game meat I get.
 

Ownage

Member
Hell yea to the replies. My family was late to the party re: buying a basement freezer and working with the local butcher on bigger orders. But holy cow (lulz), its the most fresh and tasty beef I've ever had.

Ever try free range, grass fed, organic Halal beef? I don't know if it was the rancher or just the Halal preparation of the meat. I'm not Muslim but it was delicious.
 
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Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
I don’t buy the “heat” argument for the cattles death. I just don’t. That many? In a place thst absolutely can get that hot? I don’t buy it.
I kind of agree with you. I live in Missouri and every year it regularly tops 100 for MANY days each summer. It's not a new thing.
 

Dural

Member
Some farmers are saying it was a rapid change in heat plus humidity, not the heat itself. Let's all calm down a bit.

I have no doubt there is some nefarious work at play in this country but not everything is a conspiracy.

So we had a chicken farm in Iowa have to kill millions of chickens causing eggs and chicken to triple in price, the largest pork producer is shutting down a plant in California with pork prices expected to spike, and now we have cattle dying which will cause beef prices to spike. That's three of the major meats that we eat in the US having some sort of issue within the last several months causing prices to skyrocket. I do all the shopping in our household and am really frugal so always pay attention to prices and I've never seen anything like this. Beef prices are always up and down (I'm imagining prices are going to skyrocket with this news), but I've never seen chicken and eggs as much as they've been since march. Not saying it's a conspiracy, but it's really weird how all this is happening at once.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I don't think 2000 cattle is even a blip on the beef radar though, so unless this is widespread its mostly fear mongering.

We are headed (or being manipulated perhaps) into a major crisis convergence with weather, shortages, inflation, etc. This is the kind of thing that enables a knee-jerk political reaction with massive effects across the nation and through time. Just wait for 1000 page bills to get dropped next week to be voted on before any legislator could possibly read it, much less full understand it, not to mention almost total secrecy towards the public to actually see the bill and where the changes/money flow really are versus how "the media" spins it.
 
So we had a chicken farm in Iowa have to kill millions of chickens causing eggs and chicken to triple in price, the largest pork producer is shutting down a plant in California with pork prices expected to spike, and now we have cattle dying which will cause beef prices to spike. That's three of the major meats that we eat in the US having some sort of issue within the last several months causing prices to skyrocket. I do all the shopping in our household and am really frugal so always pay attention to prices and I've never seen anything like this. Beef prices are always up and down (I'm imagining prices are going to skyrocket with this news), but I've never seen chicken and eggs as much as they've been since march. Not saying it's a conspiracy, but it's really weird how all this is happening at once.
I will look into those things.

What I will say are all those distribution and manufacturing fires were highly suspect and I think were on purpose.

I don't know what to say. We all know what needs to happen to change anything (if things don't get better) but no one will do it. Pray and prepare.
 

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
I do judge, but i
Ok, you do your own thing, no worries. Don’t judge people who don’t agree, but it kind of sounds like you do.

I do judge yes, it's not about not agreeing. This immense suffering only happened because people are stuck in their harmful ways, and there's absolutely zero reason for real meat still to exist in 2022. Be assured tho, I won't be posting anymore in this thread as I know a dogpile will follow so I'll put it on Ignore for now...
 

Smiggs

Member
Don't even eat meat. It solves all these issues and more. Also not interested in a sport where one side doesn't even know we're playing.
Or, you can look at it from an entirely conservation standpoint--we eradicated most of the natural predators to deer all over the country. If we didn't cull some of the population, imagine what the animals would do to agriculture goods in the fields (likely most of your diet comes from these fields), property damage via accidents, and the increased disease. Some of the diseases could even potentially spread to other animals, or even us.

Hunting to most people is not about "sport" or trying to act like some tough guy. It's an integral part of a functioning ecosystem between man and beast. Next time your car isn't totaled driving down a back road during the rut this fall, thank a local hunter for saving your ass.
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
Lightning strikes.
Not sure if anyone has been paying attention but there have been tons of storms in that area (and elsewhere) over the last two weeks.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Extreme heat is becoming more common and a serious problem all over the world. Sadly, I think we're past the point of no return and this is now the new norm.
 
Dural Dural ok so after reading about Iowa and the pork plant in California, I think that it probably was just getting too expensive to do business in California. I have been reading about how bad it was for at least a year now. California is batshit crazy plus their government is pure evil.

The Iowa chicken plant, is definitely weird. And the owner owns an NBA team, and you know how scummy that organization is. Considering how they killed the chickens as well... Has that ever happened before? Killing so many chickens due to possible disease? It seems like during COVID, things were only shut down temporarily.
 
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Pilgrimzero

Member
Always loved the Dystopian Future genre, never thought I'd live long enough to live in one.

All the climate changes, wealth gaps, and corporate takeovers but none of the cool cybernetics...
 
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Kev Kev

Member
poor things. cows are so cute. im not sure if there will be any investigation since animals are considered property, and they are already saying it was a rare "heat burst" or somethin, but man... this is just too much to not make sure there wasnt some way to prevent the suffering and demise of these animals.
 

Dural

Member
Dural Dural ok so after reading about Iowa and the pork plant in California, I think that it probably was just getting too expensive to do business in California. I have been reading about how bad it was for at least a year now. California is batshit crazy plus their government is pure evil.

The Iowa chicken plant, is definitely weird. And the owner owns an NBA team, and you know how scummy that organization is. Considering how they killed the chickens as well... Has that ever happened before? Killing so many chickens due to possible disease? It seems like during COVID, things were only shut down temporarily.

Yeah, it was definitely weird killing so many chickens.

If you don't have a swimming pool you won't notice it, but pool chemicals, chlorine in particular, are unbelievably expensive right now. A case that I got last year at Sams Club was $99, they're now $199. Apparently one of the biggest producers of pool chlorine had a fire last year and won't be operational until this fall. I'm sure everyone's heard of the baby formula shortage too, just so many weird things all going on at once to make things expensive and hard to get.
 
Yeah, it was definitely weird killing so many chickens.

If you don't have a swimming pool you won't notice it, but pool chemicals, chlorine in particular, are unbelievably expensive right now. A case that I got last year at Sams Club was $99, they're now $199. Apparently one of the biggest producers of pool chlorine had a fire last year and won't be operational until this fall. I'm sure everyone's heard of the baby formula shortage too, just so many weird things all going on at once to make things expensive and hard to get.
How many "fires" can happen at once?!
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
on the other hand, what kinda of pansy ass privileged first world animals are these snowflakes if they cant even handle a 100 degree heat. I dont see the African Buffalo complaining and they have to fight off Lions trying to eat them alive everyday. Classic millennial entitled bitches.

I believe that before they all died, the cows demanded to have their non binary status recognised.
 

I_D

Member
Technically, heat/sunlight is what killed these animals; but this sounds like more of a problem with a lack of water and shade.
 
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