Storms kill cattle in southern Alberta

A southern Alberta community is declaring a state of disaster after spring storms killed up to 15 per cent of some ranchers' cattle herds.

Three recent storms, bringing high winds and heavy snow, hit Cardston County, just north of the Montana border. Ranchers are now counting up their losses and finding more bodies of cattle as the snow melts.

"We've had cows and calves who have been crowded up from the winds and the storms, and some of them have been pushed into ponds and drowned," Cam Francis, a county reeve, said Tuesday.

"We've had herds bust through fences and end up in Montana, driven from the spring snowstorms."

Rancher Shawn Pitcher said the more he tried to help his animals, the more they would trample each other. He said he had no choice but to wait out the storms.

By declaring a state of disaster, county officials hope to obtain short-term financial relief from provincial and federal governments.

The timing of the prolonged storms was especially hard on cattle producers because this is when cattle are calving.

Pitcher, who ranches near Cardston, said he's going through twice the amount of regular feed, trying to nurse sick animals.

"We're right in the middle of dealing with the sickness, on pneumonia problems with these new newborns and other diseases that the wet and muck and mud bring on these calves," he told CBC News.

By the end of the ordeal, Pitcher estimates he'll have lost about 10 per cent of his 300-strong herd.

Francis believes every cattle producer in the county has lost some of his herd. So far, he said he's heard of individual ranchers losing 60 to 200 animals.

"As the snow drifts are starting to melt … you're finding dead baby calves underneath," said Francis. "Pretty devastating not only economically, but ranching's more than just a business, it's a lifestyle and it's taken an emotional toll on a lot of these people too."