Hot enough for ya? Too hot for thousands of cattle in South Dakota!

 

Photo credit;  Google

Headline:  South Dakota Searchlight, 8/11/2026

Meghan O'Brien reports:

George Kenzy said he did all he could to prepare his family’s feedlot for extreme heat and humidity. That included extra water tanks, covering the ground with light-colored bedding to reduce heat absorption, and keeping the ground as wet as possible. 

“And it seemed like Mother Nature just had the upper hand on this one,” Kenzy said. 

Thousands of cattle in South Dakota died of heat stress last month. Though locations across the state experienced unusually high temperatures, data from the Rapid City office of the National Weather Service help illustrate the historic nature of the heat wave: It was the city’s second hottest July on record, according to several indicators, and the city experienced its highest-ever recorded temperatures on July 25 downtown (110 degrees) and at the airport (112 degrees). 

July was also the warmest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with an average temperature of nearly 77 degrees.

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