BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — The winter storm that has paralyzed cities across the Midwest has made life harder for exhausted ranchers whose cows are in the midst of giving birth.
Even in western Kansas where little snow fell, the frigid temperatures were made worse by gusts that dropped the wind chill to 36 degrees below zero. The cold is especially dangerous for wet, newborn calves.
To keep his animals safe, rancher Jerry Byrd has spent the week driving back and forth between his home in Dighton and the pens a mile away where his pregnant cows wait. He and his son check them every two hours, day and night.
Byrd says they have to be ready to move the cows indoors quickly when the babies are ready to come.
