Texas Ranchers Weather Winter Storm

Fields and pastures across parts of Texas are covered in snow. For some, this storm brought a snow day. But for ranchers, it was another day of doing what they do—caring for their livestock.

As soon as snow was in the forecast, ranchers began to prepare.

“The biggest part about these days is the preparation up to it,” Kelcey Kasper, Collin County rancher, said. “It doesn’t really matter what goes on during that day if you didn’t prepare for it leading up to it.”

Kasper fed plenty of hay prior to the storm.

The snow and freezing rain began Thursday morning at his ranch and is expected to clear up Friday. By Thursday afternoon, they had 4 inches of snow.

Kasper bundled up and headed out into the storm.

He spent the day checking cattle, fences and stock tanks. He broke ice where needed so his cattle would have access to water.

“We fed and went through and checked all our stock tanks,” Kasper said. “Cows can’t make it themselves, so we have to be good stewards and care for them.”

Montague County rancher Ryan Yeatts received a mixture of rain and snow.

“We had probably about a 10th of an inch of rain come in right before, and we’ve been between 17 and 19 degrees in the morning for the past few days,” Yeatts, who raises sheep, said. “Starting about six o’clock Thursday morning, we were up to 4.5 inches of snow in the pastures. And then around the barn when we had a little bit less because of tree coverage.”

Yeatts also spent the week preparing for the storm and the worst it could bring.

“We knew this storm was coming in early last week, so I spent days preparing,” he said. “The first thing I did was go around and wrap up any water pipes. We made sure that all pastures and all paddocks have a cover so the animals can get underneath and get into some shelter.”

When making sure their sheep all have access to water, they also ensured they would have access to minerals.

“All the sheep across all of our pastures have huts that they can go into, and they all have a mineral there so they still get all the nutrition that they need,” Yeatts said. “We go around and starting early in the morning and bust ice out of all the waters that don’t have electrical access to them.”

Yeatts raises hair sheep, so they are built for snowy conditions.

“The more weathered and tenured animals, they’re just fine. Our hair sheep do have a kind of like a wool undercoat almost,” he said. “In this wintertime, they get a little bit of long wool over the top of them and that keeps them insulated, keeps them warm, and is really ideal for conditions like this.”

Despite the bitter cold, ranchers like Kasper and Yeatts keep working.

“Each and every person has a calling, and my wife and I just felt the calling to be involved in agriculture and to raise livestock,” Yeatts said. “We could be inside up next to a fireplace or just playing out in the snow, but we take a lot of pride in being able to provide high quality, nutritious food to Americans.”

It’s the same for Kasper. He takes pride in raising cattle and working the land, regardless of the temperatures.

“I’m the sixth generation that’s been running cattle out here,” Kasper said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I think being in agriculture is one of the most noble things that you can do. I’ve had other jobs over the years, but raising cattle is by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”