Dairy Cow Death Toll Climbs in Valley From Devastating Blizzard

We initially reported last week that some 1,600 dairy cows had perished in a rare blizzard that hit eastern Washington February 9th well that figure has climbed significantly

The number is 1,830 animals which is roughly 2% of all Yakima Valley dairy cows.

The reason for most of the deaths were the cattles natural instinct to huddle together. When they do that they are resistant to being herded elsewhere, therefore they huddled and froze to death some cows were trampled while others laid down and simply couldn't get back up.

The financial loss is conservatively estimated at about $2 million and now farmers must figure out how to dispose of all the  carcuses.

BTW Washington ranks 10th in the nation for milk production!