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Blizzard Buried Some Dairy Cows in the Snow; 35,000 Die

Dairy calves peered around snow piles at Dutch Road Dairy in Muleshoe, Tex., on Monday. The dairy lost 300 of its 2,200 cows during a blizzard that began on Dec. 26.Credit...Allison Terry for The New York Times

Lucinda Holt and

LUBBOCK, Tex. — After a mild and dry Christmas Day, a fierce blizzard whipped across the rolling plains of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The wind blew mercilessly for 48 hours, leaving snow drifts as high as 14 feet.

Though winter storms are not strangers to this region, the unrelenting wind — sometimes gusting to 80 miles per hour — and blinding snow of this blizzard surpassed even the most dire of forecasts. Dairy farmers in the region, who produce 10 percent of the milk in the United States, are now tallying their losses.

So far, more than 35,000 dairy cows have been found dead; many other animals developed frostbite and could still die. In West Texas, about 10 percent of the adult herd was lost. Farmers are trying to decide how to dispose of the carcasses that dot the landscape, though others might not be found until the snow melts.

“It was just beyond anything we ever saw,” said Nancy Beckerink, who moved her dairy farm, Dutch Road Dairy, to Muleshoe, Tex., from western New York six years ago to escape the harsh winters of the Northeast. Her dairy lost 300 of its 2,200 cows, and Ms. Beckerink said she might lose 50 to 75 more to frostbite.

Meteorologists sounded the first warnings about the storm some eight days before it hit on Dec. 26. Farmers prepared as best they could — putting down extra bedding behind wind breaks, placing extra bales of hay in front of calf bungalows and in places where snow typically accumulates.

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Nancy Beckerink moved her dairy farm to Texas from New York six years ago to escape the harsh winters of the Northeast.Credit...Allison Terry for The New York Times

But as the blizzard raged on, cows that had sought shelter behind windbreakers were buried alive by drifting snow. Others froze to death on open fields. Calves that had been nestled inside hutches went hungry because no one could reach them.

Farmers who tried to rescue their animals became disoriented and lost on their own land.

“We did the best we could for our animals,” Ms. Beckerink said. But as the storm worsened, saving them meant risking the lives of her workers — “a horrifying decision to make.”

Andle van der Ploeg, who opened Mid Frisian Dairy near Clovis, N.M., in 2003, said the farm experienced 35 to 36 hours of continuous snowfall and lost 10 cows. “If you have a snowfall six to eight hours, that’s O.K., but every hour it became more of a problem,” he said, adding that he, his sons and employees worked around the clock during the storm.

Farmers are figuring out their losses — one estimated that each dairy cow would cost $2,200 to replace. But the financial hit will come not only from the cows that died, but also from the loss in productivity among those that survived — and that is what has made the loss so difficult to quantify. Dairy cows require a routine and are normally milked two times a day to keep them producing milk.

Because many went without milking for two days during the storm, their supply is expected to dwindle, said Darren Turley, the executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen. And much of the milk that farmers had stored in tankers spoiled because delivery trucks were unable to reach them once the storm hit.

Beverly Idsinga, the executive director of Dairy Producers of New Mexico, a trade group that also has members in West Texas, estimates that it may take a year to return milk production to its prestorm levels in eastern New Mexico, which is home to 75 percent of all dairy farms in the state.

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Lubbock, the heart of West Texas’ milk-producing country, registered the third largest snowfall on record: 11.2 inches.Credit...John Weast/Getty Images

Consumers should not expect noticeable increases in the prices of milk or milk products, like cheese and yogurt, in part because of an ample supply, said David Anderson, a professor at the department of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University.

Farmers, however, will have a hard time recouping their income. Some carried insurance, and the states are encouraging farmers to report their losses to the federal government and apply for emergency assistance, including loans.

After leaving West Texas, the same line of storms caused tornadoes in other parts of the South and flooding in the Mississippi River Valley. In all, more than 50 people were killed in 14 states.

Lubbock, the heart of West Texas’ milk-producing region, registered the third largest snowfall — 11.2 inches — on record, said Jody James, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico declared a state of emergency after the storm left as much as three feet of snow in some areas.

As snow fell, farmers shoveled away as much of it as they could, as fast as they could. Some dug out calves by hand.

“A lot of the calves were hungry,” said Robert Hagevoort, a dairy extension specialist at New Mexico State University’s College of Agriculture in Clovis, the state’s milk-producing hub. “But they were alive.”

Lucinda Holt reported from Lubbock, and Fernanda Santos from Phoenix.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: A Deathly Chill in the Fields. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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