Drought kills thousands of cattle in US

In Kansas, the third-largest US state, leading cattle ranches have reported that thousands of cows have died as a result of heat waves and high humidity.

On July 11 alone, at least 2,117 cattle died in southwestern Kansas. Experts note that on that day the level of humidity increased sharply, there was a complete calm, and the temperature exceeded 38 ° C. The hot, humid air made the animals feel that they were suffocating. And this happened before some animals completely shed their winter coat.

REUTERS, citing experts, notes that the massive loss of livestock today has had a huge impact on the state of the MEAT industry in the United States, which is in the deepest crisis.

According to weather forecasts, in the coming weeks, the air temperature in Kansas will exceed the 40-degree mark. Such extreme heat, according to veterinarians, still stresses animals today and eventually kills them.

There is another, no less acute problem - the disposal of dead carcasses. Farmers usually cremate them. However, now that the cows are dying by the thousands, they are being dumped into hastily dug mineral lime burial grounds in the Seward County landfill in Liberal. Due to the scale of animal deaths, local sanitation officials fear that the smell of decaying animals will spread throughout the area, or even an epidemic of some kind of infectious disease. Waste from landfills can also seep into groundwater, said Hannah Connor, senior associate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Landfill DIRECTOR Brock Tyner told reporters that landfill workers use steel-wheeled loading equipment to mix the dead carcasses into the trash, as required by the regulations. This process takes an average of almost three weeks.

it is known that cows that die from heat stress do not go for chops for human consumption. Using a special technology, dead carcasses are processed into animal feed, fertilizers and other products needed by American farmers.