BILLINGS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reminding farmers and ranchers that several programs are available to help them through this latest blast of winter weather.
For livestock producers, the two most popular programs available are the Livestock Indemnity Program and the Emergency assistance for Livestock, Honeybee and Farm-Raised Fish Program. These programs reimburse producers for a portion of the value of livestock, poultry and other animals that died as a result of a qualifying natural disaster event– like these winter storms – or for loss of grazing acres, feed and forage.
Steve Peterson is the Farm Service Agency’s Associate Administrator and says to participate in these programs, documentation is very important.
“We would just remind producers it's important to document the beginning inventory of those animals prior to the event and it's also real critical is making certain they document any deaths that may occur,” said Peterson.” So, cell phone pictures, videotaping, the feeding time to kind of get an idea of the number of animals that are out there, along with vaccination documents and other veterinary documents. These can also be helpful.”
For producers who have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, we want to remind you to report crop damage to your crop insurance agent or your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office.
