Winter came early for northwestern Montana this year.
Kari Lewis, Glacier County Montana State University Extension agent, said some areas received up to four feet of snow starting Sept. 27 and lasting only a few days.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock issued an emergency order on Sept. 29 after the community of Browning saw four feet of snow, west of Choteau accumulated 22 inches, and Great Falls recorded 14 inches of snow.
“With an unprecedented winter storm throwing our state a surprise in September, state and local governments are working closely together to protect the health and safety of Montanans and our top priority is making sure that happens,” Bullock said in a press release.
Sept. 28 and Sept. 29 were the two heaviest September snowfall days on record in Great Falls at 9.7 inches and 9.6 inches. The two-day total of 19.3 inches was second only to the city’s all-time heaviest two-day snowfall of 24.2 inches in April 27-28, 2009, according to the National Weather Service in Great Falls.
“We are used to this type of weather in this part of the country,” Lewis said, “but certainly not in September.”
She did note that residents were lucky to have a good forecast of what was coming a week out.
“I think about producers 100 years ago, and I can’t imagine getting that storm without warning,” she said.
Impact on agriculture
At the end of September, ranchers’ cattle are typically still out on summer pasture in the mountains.
When it comes to preparing for a storm, “It’s always the gauntlet of ‘Well, is it going to be as bad as they’re saying?’ and ‘How much should we do ahead of time?’” Lewis said. There were maybe a few people that tried to get cattle hauled home, but for the most part, cattle were still out at pasture.”
Compared to years in the past, this storm didn’t have the wind that was predicted or the extreme cold temperatures. Lewis also noted that the state was lucky that it didn’t rain beforehand, as it did during the devastating South Dakota storm several years ago. Once cattle are wet, it is even more difficult to maintain their body temperatures and they deal with more stress.
The main issue for producers was getting dug out and reaching cattle on heavy equipment to provide feed and water. There was a high incidence of cows getting out through downed fences and wandering into neighboring fields or even down county roads.
Lewis said she talked to a rancher who had 300 cows get out where they weren’t supposed to be. Another rancher told a story of a cow that had fallen through a covered cattle guard and died.
“Cattle that were in good shape that had been getting good feed should have been able to get through it,” Lewis said. “No one had shipped for the most part, so now the priority is to get roads and corrals cleaned out for shipping.”
Lewis noted that this time of the year is when producers are hoping cattle are putting on weight prior to shipping, and cattle most likely lost weight during the storm.
One producer weighed yearlings just before the storm hit, and again right after they shipped, and saw a difference of a 50-pound decrease.
“Cattle prices are pretty tight as it is, and when you have that kind of weight loss, that certainly is less dollars to take to the bank,” Lewis said.
Preparing for the storm
Gene Curry of Valier, MT, still had cattle up in the mountains before the storm hit. Typically, the summer grazing season for the region will run from June 1 to mid-October. Curry and his wife were able to grab a load of cattle to bring home shortly before the storm started on Friday night.
“Most people have diversified operations and a lot of them were trying to get crops in, so we weren’t really ready for cattle yet,” Curry said. “Maybe we could’ve been working on getting more cattle out if we had known the storm was going to be that bad, but we were still trying to get crop in.”
Even if you are able to get cattle back home, Curry asked, what if you don’t have anywhere to put them?
“You’ve already paid for the leased pasture and you probably don’t have feed readily available,” Curry said. “Even if you have a dry lot, feed is expensive. We are short on feed in this part of the country with the substantial premiums to ship up to Canada.”
Regarding the cattle, Curry said they still looked pretty good. Once he was able to get out to the pastures to feed the cattle on a tractor, he noted they were more interested in water than feed.
“The water was buried under the snow and cattle couldn’t travel in most places,” Curry said. “Plus, the calves were still nursing, so the cow’s body resources were even more depleted.”
He noted the weight loss from the storm was going to be a lasting effect and the calves lost pounds they will never get back.
“They should be gaining a lot of weight this time of year—they’ve been gaining two to three pounds a day,” Curry said. “Going a week or 10 days without feed… we will be lucky if they gain anything.”
He added, “It will show up next spring. Younger cattle won’t be in as good of condition at calving time.”
In addition, stress is a big factor. With a high amount of stress comes a higher incidence of sickness. Most calves haven’t been pre-conditioned as there aren’t usually facilities to do so in the mountains.
“It’s hard to get back into shape after stress like that.” — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
