Difficult Wyoming winter has domino effect on cattle, crops

Wyoming ranchers found themselves in two feet of snow on the flats in February, livestock with calves on the way, and no immediate solutions to even reaching their herds to feed.

As a result of the predicted heavy winter, livestock owners received notice to exercise caution and take precautions to plan for the deep winter that took over the state for the next three months or so.

Gov. Mark Gordon issued the following statement in a news release on Feb. 20:

“Preparing for the storm and caring for livestock during the storm is critical. However, these actions should only be taken if they can be accomplished safely.

“The 2022-23 winter has been particularly hard for Wyoming’s sheep and cattle producers, due to a combination of factors. The winter started exceptionally early, and has resulted in significant snow levels and considerable drifting. Ongoing windy conditions and drifting snow is hampering efforts to reach livestock. Mortality has been high thus far, and is expected to increase well into the spring as a result of this harsh winter.”

As winter continued, cattle ranchers saw the mortality rate continue to hit their livestock as newborns froze in negative weather, and sicknesses from the elements, such as pneumonia, took lives. Cows aborted their babies as they went into survival mode due to the extended cold months or lack of feed as the winter dragged on with little grass growth. The losses, as well as the cost of medication to treat the livestock, created an expensive spring for the cattle industry.

Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna mentioned a few other issues that came up to create a difficult winter to navigate for livestock owners.

“Hay became difficult to find in certain areas of the state. It was expensive and hard to truck in because roads were closed,” Magagna said. “The mortality rate was significant, especially depending on the region of the state, and all of it just turned into a difficult winter to have cattle.”

Antony Bergantino, director of the Wyoming State Climate Office and Water Resources Data System, spoke to the trends shown this winter and the storm patterns this spring, which led to daily showers and lower temperatures.

“While high-elevation snowpack was somewhat normal in many areas, the lower-elevation snowpack was a lot higher than normal (sort of an inverted snowpack), which was a problem for livestock,” said Bergantino. “Coupled with the low temperatures, the impact was severe. We had multiple cold waves that came through in December and January with temperatures reaching below -40F in places.

“The snow that came lingered, as well, so it continued to build on what was there, making it difficult for animals to get through it to forage. In some areas, the modeled maximum snow depth on the ground was higher than it has been in the last 20 years.”

Ranchers also struggled to get through the snow to their herds to bring calves to warming huts or houses, doctor the sick ones on wet straw, or even feed as their tractors fought the snow levels during snowstorms in the middle of the night.

To mitigate some of the losses, which reached well over the average 10% of typical years, USDA offered a disaster relief program for livestock owners.

“This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs, including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts,” the release document states.

The spring continued to be wet and relatively cold in some areas, which has directly affected early grazing and hay production. The volatile weather has been the cause of delayed planting and hay harvesting with even crop loss in Gillette County due to a small tornado, according to the FSA. However, the constant showers have provided quality grazing for livestock and kept the grass growing.

According to Bergantino, the past few months have seen a few counties reaching their top five wettest months since 1895, making the weather a different type of obstacle than the drought the state has been dealing with in most regions.

“We’ve had a series of blocking systems in place that have kept low- and high-pressure systems stagnant for longer periods of time. These have trapped the areas of disturbance in place, and we’ve been feeling more prolonged effects. Because of the positioning of the pressure systems, the weather pattern stagnates for a while until they can be displaced.”

Though the weather has seemed atypical for Wyoming, Bergantino assured that it hasn’t been quite so unusual compared to the weather around 2018-19.

“We had been in a long stretch of La Nina conditions since mid/late summer of 2020 (with a brief exception covering the three-month periods of May-July and June-August in 2021) so people had gotten used to that pattern. This also corresponds to the latest period of drought that Wyoming has experienced, which started in the summer of 2020 and is now winding down. Now we have returned to a more normal pattern and look to be moving into El Nino,” said Bergantino.

With the weather acting as a judge with the last say, ranchers have seen regular cattle growth as the consistent storms have provided moisture for pasture, and many hope for late summer to get their last crop of hay in to have feed for winter.

Magagna also mentioned how nearly 80% of the state is sitting very well with grazing and seeing the blessings of such a hard winter.

“It’s some of the best grazing and hay we’ve seen in several years,” said Magagna. “It was hard for those who put up early hay — they refer to it as black hay because they had to bale so wet, but the crop is looking great now after a few warm days.”

Wyoming Ag Business Association Executive Director Keith Kennedy highlighted the trending pattern farmers and ranchers are seeing with the hay crop, which has, for the most part, been very productive because of the moisture, but difficult to get baled, as it has rained so much.

“Depending on the region, especially anywhere in the southeast corner of Wyoming, the maturity on the crops is later than normal by about 10 days because of how wet June was,” said Kennedy. “Everyone is pleased with the volume of the hay, but it’s been hard to put up.”

Producers have reported similar updates to the USDA Wyoming sector as farmers are adjusting to the volatile weather. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service for the Wyoming Field Office Weekly Crop Report, the first cutting of hay as of July 9 was reported at 46%, compared to the 29% of the previous week and 80% for the same week last year.

Another setback is seen when the report deems how many days out of the week are “workable.” 2022 recorded an average of 6.7 days suitable for work, while this year, on the week of July 9, the report showed 4.8 workable days due to the weather. This causes a setback, since nearly two days a week have been cut short because of rains or storms, which adds to why the hay has been difficult to get baled and put away. The report noted that most grains are on track with the season last year.

“Folks have needed to become more flexible in what crops they put in,” said Kennedy. “It’s been harder to be more flexible in the last five years because the inventory of other crops can be hard to find, as well as the specialized equipment needed to do a different crop. It’s always a learning curve to harvest something that’s not typically grown here.”

The data for the number of losses and the impact the winter had on the cattle industry for 2023 will be available in January 2024.