Military Feeding Snowbound Cattle

The Associated Press reports that:

Hundreds of hay bales fell from the sky across Colorado's rangeland as military helicopter and cargo plane crews delivered food to cattle that have been stranded by the heavy snow and high drifts for a week."

Does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling that the hungry cattle are being fed? Well, I hope you get something out of it because you're paying for it. I seriously doubt that the ranchers who will profit from the saved cattle will be expected to foot the bill. If it was economically feasible and necessary to have air-drop capability available the ranchers would own and operate it themselves. Sure, they will lose cattle but they expect that; notice in the article that one of them admits that he has insurance to cover such losses.

This cattle feeding operation is not about the economics of cattle ranching, it's about saving the poor cattle. My and your tax dollars are being used to save a few cattle from starving to death so they can be slaughtered a few months later.

The worst part of this operation is that it is just a gesture; they don't really expect to save most of the trapped cattle. It's mostly about politicians attempting to garner favor with their constituents.

The picture accompanying the article shows the futility of the operation. How many trips will the sergeant and others have to make manually dragging two bales of hay across thigh-deep drifts of snow to feed all the hungry cattle? How many sorties will the Black Hawk have to fly to make a difference?

They are expecting another storm by the weekend.  The cattle might appreciate a little global warming.

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