May is the season of severe storms in Oklahoma. The week leading up to Memorial Day included numerous severe storms and several tornadoes in the state with lots of damage and, most regrettably, several injuries and fatalities. A bit more unusual this year is the persistent pattern of wet weather. 

Producers in the Midwest are still tallying the damages from the mid-March “bomb cyclone” storm that left a trail of destruction across the Midwest. Rain and snow combined with winds of 65 mph shut down operations in parts of the Dakotas and created catastrophic flooding throughout much of Nebraska and Iowa, inflicting untallied damage throughout the four states.

There was an almost 50-50 response to Progressive Cattleman’s most recent online poll, “Has your operation ever been affected by a natural disaster (flood, fire, hurricane, etc.)?”

Australian producers are facing catastrophic losses of an estimated 500,000 head of cattle from torrential monsoon rains that have turned dry paddocks to rivers and washed stranded stock into the floods or left them smothered in lakes of mud.