The carcasses of cattle that died in a blistering heat wave last month were sent to a Kansas landfill where they were flattened with loader machines and mixed in with normal trash, according to cattle feeding companies. Other dead cows were dumped in unlined graves. Neither method of disposal is usually used for getting rid of dead cattle, but the sheer number of cows that died in the June heat meant that facilities which turn cows into pet food and fertilizer products were unable to cope. The state therefore turned to emergency alternatives, with Kansas potentially set to face more extreme temperatures linked to climate change which could prove lethal to cattle once again this summer. Seward County Landfill Director Brock Theiner estimated his dump alone received between 1,850 to 2,000 dead cattle after temperatures spiked above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in southwestern Kansas in June.
