CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — As floodwaters continue to recede, Central Texans are assessing the damage.
Among those Central Texans are local cattle ranchers who are searching properties on horseback, riding in boats on rivers and lakes and also checking out social media to find any signs of lost cattle or even entire herds.
Barnard Beef Cattle Company Owner and President Blayr Barnard is one of the many looking for head of cattle from her herd. She tells 6 News she knows she has lost at least 20, but the exact number is unknown.
"I don't know how many of those we're going to find," Barnard said. "We did find four at a neighbor yesterday. We've had a call for two today. We know we lost some in the trees."
Barnard said one of the cows was found 6.5 miles downstream. She said those that have been found are either dead or in bad shape.
"My guess is these are all going to have lung damage," Barnard said. "They're gonna have water in their lungs, probably abrasions and cuts. It's going to be a very, very high infection rate on any cuts and then we're also hearing that if they are rescuing them, a lot of them will have things like broken legs, missing ears, things like that. Or they're just so weak."
On top of missing cattle, Barnard is also dealing with miles of broken or lost fencing and damaged pastures, like many other Central Texans are.
"We'll lose this whole crop. There'll be no way to save it," Barnard said. "The water took out over two-thirds of this field. We have found debris 10 feet up in the trees. The entire crop, probably worth about $20,000 that we won't be able to harvest because there's no fences to put the cattle on. We can get hay off of it, but that hay is going to be covered in seeds from other areas. It's not going to be good hay."
Barnard tells 6 News that she checked water gaps and the level of the river before the floodwaters moved through. She said there was no way of knowing that the flooding was going to be bad enough to break the banks and take out an entire field. Based on the damage to the property, Barnard believes the floodwaters came in quickly.
"I think this came in so fast that the cattle are completely unaware," Barnard added. "I'm guessing they heard something that sounds like SpaceX when it goes off, and then they were underwater. I mean, obviously, I wasn't here, it was late at night, but based on the fact that I have 12 bales of hay stuck in trees, and those bales, given the size, probably weigh 1,500 pounds, you know they were picking up 600-pound calves with no issue and so my guess is this came up so fast that they're all probably in the lake."
Barnard said she is thankful for the community of Coryell County, and other nearby areas, for the effort to help each other during the devastating flooding. She's had "neighbors" reach out to possibly identify cattle that may be hers and are helping in search efforts for other Central Texas livestock. Barnard said, fortunately, many will be tagged or branded, but maybe not all the calves.
Central Texans have created a Facebook group to help livestock owners in the search. As of May 7, it has grown to more than 250 members only a day after it was created.
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