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Horrible horrible news....fire

Okay, maybe a stupid question but doesn't insurance cover the loss of livestock? I mean, I know mine are covered if they are struck by lightening, I know my hay is covered if it burns up in the hay stacks, I know both are insurared from theft and I believe I asked about fires and basically they said yes, they are insurared (Heck, one was covered that got stuck in an electric fence and had a heart atack (That was just awful, before we took over). Just curious, about the only thing our insurance doesn't cover is disease/natural causes of death.

This isn't a federal program this is just basic farm insurance that covers buildings, equipment and liability... Just curious.
 
IL Rancher said:
Okay, maybe a stupid question but doesn't insurance cover the loss of livestock? I mean, I know mine are covered if they are struck by lightening, I know my hay is covered if it burns up in the hay stacks, I know both are insurared from theft and I believe I asked about fires and basically they said yes, they are insurared (Heck, one was covered that got stuck in an electric fence and had a heart atack (That was just awful, before we took over). Just curious, about the only thing our insurance doesn't cover is disease/natural causes of death.

This isn't a federal program this is just basic farm insurance that covers buildings, equipment and liability... Just curious.
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I'd hate to pay your insurance premiums :wink: :lol: I don't know too many that have insurance on cattle or hay (unless its financed and the bank requires it)-- just too pricey... Liability insurance is expensive enough- but you about have to have that anymore- everything else I have is pretty much self insured...
 
I have insurance on my cattle.. Almost everyone around here does.. They insure they're cattle like they do the crops and buildings, veichles etc...

Not many do around you Oldtimer? Just wondering its always nice to learn how they do things in diffrent areas.
 
We carry insurance on our hay, but not on cattle. If cattle are killed by lightning, they have to be turned in right away with a vet's affidavit. It is too hard to find lightning kills quick enough for the vet to actually know for sure what happened to them. If you turn in very many to insurance, the premiums go up beyond reach, or they drop you completely.
 
Very sad sorry!! We carry insurance on all of our cattle. It comes with a fairly costly premium but it is well worth it. There have been some major lightening hits in this area over the years. One neighbor lost his entire herd of 50 cows and calves one night during a thunderstorm. They were all along a fence when the lightening struck the fence. Last year another fella lost 40 hiefers and a bull during a storm. Blew the bull right over the fence into a field. Worst I ever had to clean up for a fella was when lightening hit a powerline then went down into a couple of cows lying under the lines. Pieces of them scattered for many feet around the kill site. Took me a while with the loader to clean up the site and get the remains buried.
 
We had a bad deal happen in w. Montana. A fierce lightening storm came through. A few days later we noticed a terrible smell and went looking. What we found was 5 cows and 6 calves under a tree, all dead. Lightening struck the tree they were under and got them too. Of course, they weren't all pairs either.
 
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/?cat=2

The Rapid City Journal has a blog site on the fires. There are a lot of pictures and stories about the fires at Chadron and the one near Rapid City at the site above.
 
We have insurance on our hay also...and it's a good thing! Three years ago 500 tons went up and there was no stopping it. If we'd have to go replace it on our own we'd be in baaad shape. We have it insured before it's even all stacked :wink:

Send our best wishes to MB also. That would be awful.
 
Baling Wire I think your pairs should be alright, although you never know. I have been a mile south of Highway 20 supplying water for fire rigs of all types since Sat. evening. About 10:30 last night it came out of the trees about a half-mile south of a ranch, and two tractors and disks, three graders, 3 or 4 cats, and about 13 or more grass rigs knocked down about 4 miles of fire in two hours, or a little less. We pumped over 10,000 gallons of water, and I have no idea how many more were carried in on the fire trucks.
This was the same fire that started just north of your cattle, probably 15 or 16 miles south of there. It made another run at those buildings around 9:30 Sun. morning, not quite as hard to stop that time. Then around 11:00 it jumped a 60 foot fire break after cooking in a canyon bottom all night, and it was still running northeast just south of the high way at dark.
At noon Sat. this fire was estimated to have burned 2,200 hundred acres and at 4:00 Sun the area was estimated at over 20,000!! The worst part is it has a much bigger brother north of the highway. They said it "only" grew by 3,000 acres the last 24 hours, but I doubt that as it moved to within 4 miles of Harrison by 4:00 when we hauled another load of water, and was burning within a mile or less of the road in two spots about three miles apart.
It will take a good snow to finish this mess off for good, I'm afraid.
 
We put two steel fence posts per quarter mile of fence to ground the lightning out if it hits the fence. Wouldn't save the cows if it hit right where they are at, but it keeps it from running down the fenceline.
 
More info on Chadron fire as of last night.. They had a fire guard all the way around the fire and were setting back fires to wided the fire guard on the south and east side.. A special hot shot team was brought in and they said they would do the last 2 miles of backfires. Just talked to a neighbor near the fire this morning and he said not much smoke rising so hopefully they got it contained. I am headed back in by Chadron to feed my cows that are locked in several corrals. I lost about 2000 acres of summer grass southeast of Chadron. Saved all my cattle...had some that I didn't find friday night that went thru the fire, somehow they survived with no injury. Will try and get a couple pics on when I figure out how to get them here..lol.not the highest priority right now.
 
MB called and they found about 20 more that had bunched up on hill, a long way from where they should've been, but near a windmill so they had water. They were going in today to try and catch them up and haul'em out....says they are nutty as a fruitcake, rightfully so I'd say.

He also said that the fires were headed out into an area where it would be much easier to access the fire and get control of it. So, maybe the end is in sight for these folks!!
 

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