Nearly 140,000 acres were impacted by the wildfires in North Dakota. The fires are all contained, but burning restrictions remain in place. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring expects lingering effects from the fires. “Some of the livestock buyers have said they don’t really want to buy cattle out of those areas simply because they’re afraid of pneumonia setting in at a later date or feed efficiency issues, you just don’t have cattle at peak performance when they’re struggling healthwise.” Goehring said he has had ‘fruitful’ conversations with the Farm Service Agency about the ongoing impact on livestock. “They’re going to continue to address these issues knowing that health concerns can be an issue weeks and months afterward.” The USDA Livestock Indemnity Program offers payments to eligible producers for livestock death losses over normal mortality due to adverse weather such as wildfires. A list of resources is available online.
