Area ranchers are breathing a sigh of relief after battling last week’s numbing cold.
Reading rancher Scott Briggs says several things worked in favor of livestock producers last week, including the event’s relatively short duration and about a week’s worth of advance notice.
Briggs also says a light snow — two inches tops — instead of earlier forecasts of at least six inches also helped, as did the fact the storm hit between the fall and spring calving seasons.
Wind chills hovered between -20 and -35 Thursday and Friday, but Briggs says he didn’t lose any cattle to the extreme cold. Having said that, Briggs also says it doesn’t take long for cattle to suffer or die if they don’t have some protection from the extreme cold — especially if it’s windy.