Ranchers deal with unending winter storms

CODY - As the snow falls in thick sheets turning Meeteetse into God's personal snow globe, rancher Barry Zeller watches his son mounted on a horse drag a load of frozen calf carcasses piled on top of a sled through the frozen, white landscape.

"The snow has been never-ending this year. It's come in December, and it's stayed all winter," Zeller said. "Calving this time of year is pretty tough. We try to make every one of them live because every one of them is a paycheck, but it's been a struggle."

The snow, along with the wailing wind and the frigid temperatures, has turned what used to be a typical calving season for Meeteetse ranchers into an abnormal one.

"Most typical years, we don't hardly have any snow on the ground right now," Meeteetse rancher Michael Hogg said. "It's been a lot more work than what we're used to."

Ranchers have lost cows and calves. The work has become laborious as it proves difficult to wade through the snow and move livestock to dry ground or get food to them. And, it has been taxing on the ranchers who spend countless hours exposed to the elements.

In a normal calving season, Meeteetse rancher Dustin Taylor would get up in the morning, load up hay, throw it to the cows and spend the rest of the afternoon checking on expectant mothers or tagging calves.

This year, things haven't been as smooth.

"We spend at least half to two-thirds of our day fighting snow, either plowing snow or pushing snow or pulling out stuck vehicles," Taylor said. "We can't hardly get around."

Taylor had to hire a road-grade snow plow just to be able to drive through the fields and get food to his livestock.

For Zeller, it's been weeks of worrying about his livestock with every new snowfall.

"When we know there's a storm coming in, that's a sleepless night," he said. "You get up two or three times in the night and check your cows."

The stress comes in seeing what the snow does to calves. Sometimes, they freeze to death. Their ears and feet get frozen, and if the snow melts, they can develop scours, which causes dehydration and possible death.

"If those calves aren't up and sucking in 20 minutes on cold nights and if the wind is blowing, then they're just dead," Taylor said.

Taylor, Hogg and Zeller have seen increased calf deaths this year.

Taylor said his losses are up 10%, but added that other ranchers in the area have experienced between 20 and 40% increases in calf losses.

There is concern too for the mothers.

Some of Taylor's cows, along with their calves, have gotten sore knees from lying in the snow. Zeller and Hogg have had mothers take hard falls on the compacted snow and ice, causing their babies to get aborted.

"The old cows that you want to try to get one more year out of, they just kind of fall apart," Zeller said.

Taylor's cows have even gotten tired of the snow.

"Our cows quit going to water because they didn't want to walk through that snow," Taylor said. "They were getting sore legs and sore feet."

For many ranchers, the weather has strained purse strings as well.

Taylor has had to use the hay he would normally be selling this time of year in order to feed his cows through the winter, which has diminished his cash flow.

Zeller has also felt the monetary pinch.

"Everybody thinks that a rancher is making a million dollars, but the amount of money you spend just to make money - it takes a lot to get a return," he said. "It takes a lot to feed cows and whether it's equipment or pickups or horses or buying the hay, it's not cheap."

At the market, money is lost too when a calf that lost an ear during the storms brings less money.

"It's just a reason for them to give you a lower price a lot of times," Zeller said.

Hogg, in February alone, had to spend over $2,000 in diesel fuel just to move snow, and he endured increased costs when having to feed livestock more often.

And, there is the personal cost for ranchers.

"No one wants to be out there when it's really cold, and having to go through the snow, it's a lot harder," Zeller said. 'It's more work, and you're checking on [cows] around the clock."

Hogg said he now goes out every two hours to check on livestock.

Yet, there are strategies ranchers have implemented to survive.

Cows are given extra food and straw is spread in corrals to provide a dry surface. Calves are taken to warming huts or brought into the house, while cows that have lost calves are given another one to adopt.

Using the skin off the dead calf, ranchers make a jacket that goes on another calf, which may have lost its mother or was taken off an older cow, and "that tricks the cow into thinking, 'This is my baby,'" Zeller explained.

Despite this year's difficulties, Taylor, Hogg and Zeller remain faithful to the only life they've ever known. They realize today's difficulty isn't permanent.

"It's hard on everybody, but we're just trying to keep getting through it," Zeller said. "It's one of them deals where it won't last forever, and it will get better."

Hogg's motto is, "You just get bundled up and go do your job."

For Taylor, this year's obstacles have only revealed his perseverance as a rancher.

"I should probably sell out and move south, but the main thing I took out of this winter is I'm harder headed than I ever thought I was," he said. "We'll just keep moving forward."