LINCOLN – District 43 State Senator Al Davis of Hyannis is encouraging farmers and ranchers in northwest Nebraska to report recent winter storm livestock losses.

Davis, a rancher himself, says documentation should include third-party verification of the loss, photos, and precise written records of the number of head lost and amounts of record feed used should be compiled. More information verification is available from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.

Senator Davis says the loss information can be  be sent directly to the Nebraska Cattlemen or to his legislative office, where his staff will forward it to the Nebraska Cattlemen.

The UNL Extension office in Chadron and Region 23 Emergency Management are both collecting and collating lists of livestock lost to the storm as part of gathering information for disaster aid.

Details of individual producers will remain confidential while the general information of how many animals died, what type, cause of death, and the general geographic area of the losses will be provided to policy makers and the media.

Because of the federal government shutdown, USDA offices are closed an information on possible disaster assistance is unavailable. Senator Davis says gathering the information now means it can get to the USDA as soon as the shutdown ends…however long that may be.