The bitter winter weather causes concern for the winter wheat crop.
Between temperatures well below zero and another batch of chilly weather on the way, commodity weather groups say that 30 percent of the hard red winter wheat crop is susceptible to significant winter kill damage. That is because snowfall was short of expectations and there is little protection from the wind and freezing temps.
Fifteen percent of the crop could have spotty damage.
On social media there are plenty of posts from ranchers working to keep their calves warm and alive through the brutal cold.
A Kansas State veterinarian says that it is important to dry your calf before trying to warm them. Once calves are dry, they have a thermal layer in their hair coat. Their natural body temperature should be between 101 and 102 degrees.
The weather is causing delays of soybean and grain shipments by air and by land. Rail tracks are covered in snow and ice, and the extreme cold can impact a train’s air braking system.
Ice in the waterways is limiting the width of barges. Most of the Army Corps of Engineers’ ice warnings are along the Illinois River. Road travel is of course impacted as well, but the biggest delays are currently on routes headed to the Pacific Northwest.