Watford City man speaks about ranching with no power

WATFORD CITY, N.D. (KFYR) - We’ve reported on how recent storms are impacting ranchers during calving season. Besides dealing with severe winter weather, many had to do the job with no power last weekend.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this image says a lot about ranching during a winter storm with large snow drifts and no power.

“Thankfully, we were able to find him and provide him with some milk replacer from a bottle,” said Titus Stenberg, rancher. “My wife and I were able to get some shovels and shovel him out.”

Stenberg ranches near Watford City and says high winds last weekend caused them to lose power for almost two days.

It forced the family to get creative with their ranch operation.

“We have a standby generator that we’ve been running since Saturday and thankfully that’s provided the power to our well, so we have been able to give water to the cattle,” said Stenberg.

With power now restored, Stenberg is moving forward and is trying not to stress about more storms.

“Some more rain and possibly snow next weekend, but we’ll worry about that when it comes. All we can do right now is dig out from this storm,” said Stenberg.

And do what they can to prepare for what’s to come.

Stenberg says he’s been ranching full-time for ten years and this is the most challenging calving season he has ever been a part of.

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