How an increasingly brutal Kansas climate threatens cattle’s health and ranchers' livelihoods

The weather event that killed thousands of cattle in southwest Kansas last month was a rare combination of extreme factors. But it highlights the ongoing risk that heat stress poses for cattle, especially as climate change pushes temperatures higher.
HAYS, Kansas — Rancher Scott Whiting heard stories about all kinds of extreme weather growing up in western Kansas.

Blizzards, dry spells and heat waves commonly peppered the tales his parents and grandparents told about the land the family has lived on in Lane County for nearly 150 years.

So he knew that trying to shield cattle from the elements came with the job.

“It’s just a brutal area,” Whiting said. “It’s a land of extremes.”

But the combination of dangerous weather conditions that struck the region last month — killing thousands of cattle — took those extremes to another level.