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than $5 million in donations from around the country.
• Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will start accepting applications next month for a livestock disaster program that was reauthorized the five-year farm bill. Ranchers will be able to sign up if they incurred losses from 2012 through 2014.
• O'Connor says prompt government assistance is crucial for younger ranchers who are working hard to become the future of the industry.
• "I had some losses but I'm old enough to take it," he said.
• Once the snow melted and the carcasses were hauled off in October, ranchers made sure their survivors didn't have signs of lingering stress.
• Larry Stomprud, who runs an Angus cattle ranch near Mud Butte, said he lost 50 of his 300 mother cows in the storm but the survivors are in good condition.
• "They acted kind of dumpy for a while," Stomprud said of the 10 or so days after the storm. "It had taken its toll, but I don't think we experienced any more sickness this year after the storm than usual."
• Stomprud said he's still catching up from a management and labor standpoint and expects to be about 50 head short come fall sale time.
• "Our intention is to grow our herd back to where it was with our own replacements," he said. "We figure we'll probably be back there in two years."
• Dr. Vicki Cook, a Rapid City veterinarian who assists ranchers during calving season, said she's seeing higher than normal instances of prolapsed uteri, which tend to come from stress or improper nutrition.
• "Everything could be related back that the storm that set them up not to use the nutrients correctly or drug them down so far that they're not back up," she said.
• Cook said a prolapse happens when a cow has a live calf and keeps pushing until the uterus is turned inside out. Cook can push the uterus back in so the cow will rebreed after healing naturally.
• "We saw a lot of them two years ago, more than normal, and that was due to a dry, bad summer in western South Dakota," she said.
• Stomprud said it's been a tough period for ranchers, but he's been overwhelmed by the calls and donations to the relief funds from friends and other caring people. His son received five animals from Heifers for South Dakota, an effort by the nation's ranchers to donate hundreds of bred cattle and heifer calves to their brethren in South Dakota.
• "The storm doesn't come without its blessings," he said. "We have really genuinely found out how generous people are. It kind of renewed our faith in mankind."
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