OTTAWA COUNTY, Kansas – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is estimating some 2,000 cattle are dead as a result of the extreme heat in the last week. Now cattle handlers are just praying for cooler temperatures and more wind.
"It's not been fun, it's not been good,” said Perry Owens, Ottawa County Feeders manager.
Owens is one of many cattle handlers across the state dealing with cattle deaths from the past weekend all because of the blistering heat.
"When you get into these kinds of situations, the cattle don't have the ability to cool off and especially the ones that are getting closed to being finished,” he said.
Owens says cattle have a lot of weight on them, so it’s harder to cool them down.
"You got the hide on top of them and the hair and they are being set to finish, so you have to lie on a layer of fat, so it's hot,” he said.
Ken Powell with the KDHE says this is the worst situation he’s seen in some time.
"It's definitely a larger number this year than what we've seen in the past several years,” he said.
“Over the weekend the temperatures were high, the humidly was high and the wind was low."
The Kansas Cattlemen’s Association has stepped in, sending out reminders to producers that they can be partially reimbursed for cattle losses.
“We are trying to be a resource,” said Brandy Carter with the Kansas Cattlemen’s Club. “USDA does have programs in place and we need to make sure we get at that information to everyone."
Meantime, Owens is trying to keep his losses down by changing up nutrition details and by laying hay for his cattle to cool off on.
"We had almost the perfect storm,” he said.
Owens said the changes appear to be working and he’s only lost one more cow after this past weekend.
