USDA Livestock Indemnity Payments Available if Calf Losses from Blizzard Exceed 5%

Aberdeen got no snow, but Huron got 18 inches, Chamberlain and Stickney got 14, and Winner got 20. The Department of Public Safety hasn’t heard of any cattle losses like we got from the October 2013 blizzard (that storm was more deadly because it hit before cattle had grown their winter coats and before ranchers had brought the critters in from their summer pastures). But that October blizzard also didn’t hit in calving season.

If cattlemen like Libertarian Steve Novotny do suffer business losses from the snowstorm, government stands ready to bail them out:

As South Dakota livestock producers dig out of the snow left from the April 13 and 14th blizzard, they should be keeping track of death losses due to the storm.

Death losses of calves higher than what is considered normal (5%), may be eligible for financial assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture-Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA).

While calf and lamb losses from the unseasonable cold temperatures, combined with rain and snow, earlier in the month may have caused death losses, those are not qualified weather events that trigger Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) eligibility. The exemption to this would be a localized storm that was identified by the local County Committee. The statewide blizzard event is likely to be a qualified event [Heather Gessner, “Adverse Weather Conditions and Livestock Losses,” SDSU Extension: iGrow, 2018.04.13].

The USDA Livestock Indemnity Program will pay 75% of the average fair market value of livestock lost to a qualified weather event. The 2017 per-head payment rates for non-adult cattle ranged from $471.22 to $1,001.12. No producer may receive more than $125,000 in LIP payments in one program year (that annual cap applies to LIP, the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, and the Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program in aggregate), and no producer with average adjusted gross income over $900,000 qualifies for LIP.

Update 13:50 CDT: Congresswoman Kristi Noem sends out an e-mail noting that the early heads-up about the blizzard (brought to you by government scientists) helped ranchers protect their cattle and offering her help to any farmers signing up for Livestock Indemnity Program payments or other government assistance:

Thank goodness for a strong and well-funded federal government, right, Kristi?