BY: News Peddlers
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| Texas explosion [photo credit USA Today] |
The horrific death toll from the West Texas farm fire that destroyed 18,000 dairy cows has been made public.
In a report of USA Today, Saqib Mukhtar, an associate dean at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension and an authority on cattle disposal, dead farm animals can typically be buried, hauled to landfills, or even composted. This includes large numbers of animals, such as those killed in the wake of hurricanes or blizzards.
However, he noted that the sheer volume of carcasses in this occurrence makes the work gargantuan.
"I really don't know, if [the cows] were all intact, how in the world you can manage this even within a month," said Mukhtar, who formerly worked at Texas A&M University and assisted with the removal of thousands of livestock drowned by Hurricane Ike in 2008.
On Monday, April 10, 2023, smoke fills the sky following an explosion and fire at the South Fork Dairy farm close to Dimmitt, Texas. One person was badly hurt in the blast, which also killed an estimated 18,000 cows.
In the event of the South Fork farm tragedy, officials have not yet specified the disposal strategy they will employ.
USA Today further reported that, an estimated 18,000 cattle, a mix of Holstein and Jersey cows, died in a fire Monday evening at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas, some 70 miles southwest of Amarillo, as seen in video footage from local news stations.
A dairy employee was rescued from the building and taken right away to the hospital. As of Tuesday, her health was critical.
Texas's dealings with cattle deaths
Officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service have flocked to the scene to provide guidance and supervise the disposal of the animals as state fire investigators investigate what started the fire.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said in a statement that its Amarillo office "is providing assistance to South Fork Dairy to ensure that dead livestock and any other debris is disposed of in accordance with TCEQ rules and regulations," including making sure the animals are buried at least 50 feet away from the closest public water well and outside the 100-year floodplain.
More than 13 restrictions for the disposal of animal carcasses are listed on the TCEQ website, including the need that they be buried in at least three feet of dirt and covered as soon as possible, "ideally the same day."
According to Andy Vestal, a retired professor and extension specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service who has assisted in large-scale cattle disposal, the incident may also draw representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency who will all be monitoring how the dead animals may contaminate soil, air, or aquifers. According to him, the initiatives are intended to protect both people and livestock.
"You need to consider both the sustainability of animals and the public health of people," said Vestal.
What number of livestock perished in the fire?
On Monday, numerous agencies responded to a fire and explosion at a dairy farm close to Dimmitt, including the Castro County Sheriff's Office.
Since the Animal Welfare Institute started keeping track of barn and animal pen fires in 2013, this was the deadliest cattle-related fire it has ever seen.
Over the course of that time, the organisation has tracked 6.5 million animals killed in flames, with chickens accounting for more than 90% of the total. Since the South Fork event was included, the number of cow herds killed by fires this week has increased from 7,385 to 25,385.