Farmers and ranchers are still digging out from last week’s winter storm that hit the upper Great Plains. Blizzard conditions and winds over 60 miles per hour left snow drifts of 10 to 12 feet in some parts of South Dakota, with the hardest hit area around Murdo. State Senator Gary Cammack, who ranches near Union Center, says there were calves lost with the event.

He says cattle producers went above and beyond to care for animals in the storm, but in some cases Mother Nature won out.

Cammack says most producers were well prepared though for the storm which helped them save most of the mature cattle.

He says one of the problems now is where to go with all the snow and they’re working to minimize muddy feedlots.

Cammack says this storm was still nowhere near as bad as the Atlas blizzard.