A surprise blizzard in Washington State caused the death of more than 1,800 dairy cows across a little more than a dozen farms, leaving farmers to find a way to dispose of cattle that were a key source of their livelihood.
An arid region of the state, Yakima Valley is host to a number of dairy farms that use open lots for their cows, meaning their buildings are without walls, NBC News reported. That’s typically not a problem because the area only gets 6 to 8 inches of rain per year.
But on Saturday farmers said that a storm forecast to bring 3 to 5 inches of snow, already a large snowfall by their standards, suddenly dropped 18 to 24 inches with winds of 40 to 50 mph and gusts of up to 80 mph.
