Of shutdowns and suds

Just minutes before I started typing this column, national news outlets reported that Congress had reached a deal to stave off a U.S. default and end the more than two-week federal government shutdown that has furloughed thousands of federal employees, closed national parks and impacted millions of Americans to varying degrees of severity. Here at the magazine, our work was surprisingly affected by the shutdown. Some of the data we rely on was unavailable until the last minute because federal agencies responsible for providing that information to the public were deemed non-essential. Interviews with federal agency officials had to be put on hold and eventually cancelled as the shutdown dragged on beyond our deadlines. A local small business summit had to be postponed because the keynote speaker was a government employee and would not have been able to attend the event.

But our troubles pale in consideration to some of the issues being faced by others around the region. Shortly after the shutdown went into effect, an historic blizzard ravaged the Black Hills, resulting in the deaths of thousands of cattle. It is still unknown exactly how many cattle perished in the storm, but it is estimated to be 10,000 to 20,000. Some ranchers lost everything. Many will be economically devastated for years. Normally, ranchers in situations like this would look to the Farm Service Agency for help in tallying their financial losses and accessing what little federal aid might be available, but because the government was shutdown they had nowhere to turn. We hope federal officials can get back to work soon enough to offer some relief to those affected by the storm.