3,500 cattle died during storm
AMARILLO, TEXAS (AP) -- The blizzard that blasted the Texas Panhandle with as much as a foot of snow last week claimed the lives of about 3,500 cattle.
Ben Weinheimer of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association on Wednesday estimated losses could reach $3 million. As many as 90 percent of the dead animals were in feedlots. The others were out on pasture and rangeland.
Some animals died from suffocation after snowdrifts along fencing and in pens Friday and Saturday grew as high as 12 feet. The region is home to about 100 feedyards which typically house as many as 2 million cattle.
The carcasses will go to a commercial rendering plant, but the meat will not enter the human food chain.
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