No one has an accurate count of how many cattle were lost in Texas and Louisiana in the Hurricane Ike debacle, but estimates are as high as 50,000 head.
What is known, is that as the water recedes in the affected areas, the dead cattle carcasses are rotting and polluting streams and drinking water--becoming a major public health menace.
It took longer than expected for the water to recede in many areas, so the decay of dead animals got a head start on the clean-up workers--becoming a real problem now. Quite properly, the focus has been on restoring electric power and safe drinking water too, so the rotting carcasses took a back seat.
It is doubly painful for cattlemen, because of not only the cost of losing substantial portions of their herd, but now the clean-up of their ranches and repair of fences and grazing.
The cattle that are alive are frequently far from home, as they took grazing anywhere they could get it, with no fences to stop them.
It is hard to look a trashed-out rancher in the eye, who has lost all or part of his herd to the hurricane, and make him see anything good that comes out of the carnage. But from a national beef industry perspective, the severe losses of mother cows do help keep overall cattle numbers in check and cattle prices higher.
It's hard to see, in the face of such devastation, but there is a minor silver lining in the cloud.
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