Livestock producers have thirty days…not 31 or 60 days…to report livestock losses (deaths) to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) for payment via the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP).  The Notice of Loss must be provided to the local FSA office within 30 days after the loss becomes apparent as a result of a qualifying event.

LIP provides benefits to agricultural producers for livestock deaths due to eligible losses in excess of normal mortality.  For beef calves under 400 pounds, normal mortality is 4.6%

Eligible loss conditions are eligible adverse weather events, eligible disease, and eligible attack. 

A qualifying weather event in North Dakota includes blizzards, extreme cold weather, winter storm (a winter storm is a three day event with high winds, freezing rain or sleet, heavy snowfall and extremely cold temperatures), lightning, flood, extreme heat, wildfires and straight-line winds.

According to an April 24, 2018 news release, FSA has made an administrative change to LIP:

“In the event of disease, this change by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) authorizes local FSA county committees to accept veterinarian certifications that livestock deaths were directly related to adverse weather and unpreventable through good animal husbandry and management. The committees may then use this certification to allow eligibility for producers on a case-by-case basis for LIP.”

For example, if a blizzard struck on April 10 and calves died during the storm due to exposure to the storm, i.e. born in the snow and then covered with snow or chilled and died.  The producer would have until May 10 to report a Notice of Loss to the Local FSA.  The event would likely qualify as an eligible adverse weather event since it was a blizzard.

The LIP administrative change will now allow additional loss claims. 

An adverse weather event like extreme cold, blizzard, or winter storm can weaken a calf which then develops an illness like scours, pneumonia, and/or enterotoxemia, doesn’t recover and later dies.  This calf death could be an eligible loss.

If you have death losses after an adverse event, immediately schedule an appointment with your veterinarian so they may diagnosis if the loss was due to adverse weather or not.

For example, if a calf was stressed during the April 10 blizzard, but didn’t die that day and instead the calf was chilled, then developed pneumonia and died 7 days later.  This death can now be attributed to the blizzard if a veterinarian provides a certification.  The producer would have 30 days after the calf death to report a Notice of Loss.  In this example, the calf died April 17 and would need to be reported to FSA before May 17.

The 2018 payment rate for beef calves weighing less than 400 pounds is $468.72. For application criteria please contact your local FSA office.

New calves enjoying the spring sunshine.

Karl Hoppe
Karl.Hoppe@ndsu.edu
Extension Livestock Specialist