LEMMON, S.D. CUs are stepping up to assist cattle ranchers who face very difficult if not uncertain futures following the massive snow storm that hit the Dakotas earlier this month, killing thousands of livestock.
That is the report from the CU Association of the Dakotas, based in Bismarck, N.D., which said ranchers are still assessing their losses following a blizzard that latest reports indicate killed more than 100,000 cows.
“It’s devastating,” said Jeff Olson, VP of advocacy and awareness at the league. “All along the interstate you could see dead cattle in ditches.”
Olson said western South Dakota is home to a concentration of ranchers that suffered heavy losses. Many ranchers do not carry insurance that covers livestock damage from storms due to the high cost of such coverage.
Peter Butterfield, CEO of Dakota Plains FCU here, said he and his loan department have reached out to every rancher they do business with to see how bad the losses are and to offer possible solutions.
“We may have to be creative rewrite loans over a longer period to give ranchers a chance to make this loss up,” said the CEO, who noted that the loans are commercial and limited to 15 years. “We have to stay within guidelines, so this may be challenging. Maybe we look for ways to partner with some federal farming assistance agencies.”
Yet, federal assistance may be slow in coming with the government shutdown as the future of the federal Livestock Indemnity Program an emergency fund that compensates livestock producers for losses due to a natural disaster is in question due to gridlock in Washington.
“Let’s say a cattle rancher runs 500 head and loses only 15% of that. In some cases that is the rancher’s entire profit for the year,” noted Butterfield, who said 60% of the $45-million credit union’s loan volume is in ranching. “They have to still pay off grain and feed, vet bills, all to sustain a good herd. Now they are left with no operating capital and their debt unpaid.”
But if CUs and banks do not step in to offer some sort of relief, the impact of the massive livestock deaths could linger throughout this state’s economy for years, feared Butterfield. “There will be a trickle down.”
Michael Reisnour, CEO of $58-million Dakota Plains CU, Edgeley, N.D., said thankfully his membership was spared the tragedy. “We have seen this before, years ago. It took ranchers some time to work their way out of it.”
