Draught insurance?

[Alaska]

Seems like a lot of ranchers are getting big checks. Is this a government program. Seems like it would hard for a private insurance provider to carry this.

[ramiller5675]

There was a Livestock Forage Disaster Program in the 2014 farm bill that covered drought losses back to Oct 2011 based on the number of livestock you owned and the drought status of each county.

There's also a drought insurance program available for pastures and hay production that's similar to crop insurance and is somehow based on the amount of rainfall during the growing season.

Besides that, I'm not sure how anyone would be getting "big checks".

[collegeboundgal]

Those "big checks" probably cover "big expenses". When the rains come back, they'll have to replace the cattle they had to sell at a loss (because everyone else was also selling at the same time, for the same reasons) and buy back at a higher cost (going on right now). They also have to cover the bills that keep coming no matter what. Land payment, house payment, kids college, food, ect...