“I really hadn’t paid that much attention.  Not with all the stuff going on in DC.  I did hear about it, but did not register how impactful this event will play upon America.

I finally read the British version. (Greenwald is leaving btw) and finally saw the extent of the damage.

A couple of Guardian quotes sum it up nicely.

In the fall, a cattle rancher sells their calves to someone who specializes in raising them for market. It’s how a ranch generates income. Calves are the lifeblood of a cattle ranch. Most ranchers had not yet sold their calves when Atlas hit. Their calves are gone. The cows that made those calves were pregnant with with next year’s calves. Those cows are gone, those calves are gone.”

Three generations of cows wiped out.

Why was this storm so bad?  Again, I’ll let them tell you…..

Atlas wasn’t just a snowstorm, it was the kind of storm that can destroy the ranchers that have been caring for these cattle for hundreds of years.

Last weekend Atlas hit. It started with rain. The rain soaked the cows and chilled them to the bone. Inches and inches of rain fell. The rain made horrible mud. Then the winds started – 80mph winds, hurricane force. When the wind started, the rain changed to snow. A lot of snow. The cows were wet, muddy and they didn’t have their winter jackets when the wind and snow came. Wet snow. Heavy snow.

The cows tried to protect themselves. They hid in low spots away from the wind. The low spots where the rain had turned the ground to thick mud. Some got stuck in the mud. Some laid down to get away from the wind, to rest a little, they were tired from trying to get away from the weather when they were already so cold.

The snow came down so heavy and so fast the the low spots that the cattle were laying in filled with snow. Not a few inches of snow, not a foot of snow. Enough snow that the cows and their calves were covered in snow.

The cows and calves suffocated or froze to death.

The caretakers of these cattle had no power to save them. They had to stand by and take the lashings from Mother Nature. They had no options…..

Meanwhile, the Federal Government to whom these ranchers turned to for help….  Is playing hookey.

It is too early to predict the amount of price hikes this three state disaster will cause.  Damage is still being determined and those people who collect the information and process it, are on furlough….

Ranching may now become corporate, as these farmers now go belly up.   It is just like those stories of the Great Depression…….  Only this one, government was put on furlough…

Remember to say “Viva le Tea Party” when hamburger jump to $10 a pound…   Ted Cruz will probably like that. Texas cows were spared.