All said, we came through the freeze pretty good. Although we were definitely in the deep freeze along with everyone else in the state, we had a couple of things working for us. Being much further North than most folks involved with exotics in Texas, our animals are more acclimated to the cold than some. We were fortunate enough that the snow that did fall was a very dry powdery snow that animals could shake off and stay dry. The ranches further south were fighting on a couple of different fronts. They aren’t used to that kind of weather and nether is their livestock. On top of that as the front was moving in, they got a lot more moisture than we did. Their stock got wet and then the bottom fell out. If they can’t get dry the problem just compounds itself. I don’t know a rancher one who doesn’t feel a tremendous responsibility for their livestock and during these kind of situations, it just make you sick to your stomach when you can’t work hard enough to save them. It is gut wrenching to work yourself half to death fighting snow, ice and mud to get hay/feed out, break ice, fix frozen water lines, work around the clock for days on end and still be devastated by massive death loss. If you know anyone in the industry that was hit hard, I promise you a quick word of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
