Some cattle, trying to avoid the wind, wander away from the herd to stand by a snowbank, unaware that the rising drift from the blizzard eventually will suffocate them. Cattle require all the hay they can handle just to keep from freezing, especially those that are pregnant. The cold and deep snow contribute to weight loss, so they need more calories this time of year to offset it. The problem now is that many of the remaining high-quality hay bales are buried beneath snow so deep that trucks and tractors can't reach them. So ranchers must resort to low-quality feed such as oats and barley.
Most cattle are due to begin calving in the spring.
But many are so stressed, their offspring may be born unhealthy or susceptible to disease. And the mothers may be so weakened they won't be able to breed again. Ranchers who gambled and kept their cattle, hoping that beef prices would go up, now are seeing those same cattle lose weight and drop in value. Some ranchers are selling their calves at low prices just to cut their losses. Others, if they can afford it, are moving them out of state to places where hay is more abundant.