(Photo by Matt Mortenson, courtesy of USDA via ICD.)
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO.com) — Ranchers are dealing with thousands of dead cattle from heat stress during last month’s heat wave.
The National Weather Services says it was the second-hottest July on record in Rapid City and the warmest month on record throughout the contiguous United States. South Dakota State University Extension professors say the state hasn’t experienced a widespread cattle death event like this in a few years.
The state ranks seventh in the nation with roughly three-point-six million cattle and experts believe more than two-thousand died last month.
Ranchers say that not only is the loss hitting their wallets, but it has been gut-wrenching to see cattle that they have cared for die.
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