Scarlett Hagins, the association’s vice president of communications, addressed recent reports of thousands of cattle deaths in a short video that was shared Thursday afternoon on KLA’s social media channels. Hagins attributed the losses to the state’s sudden weather changes, which she said the cattle were unable to survive.

Temperatures in the region jumped from the 70s and 80s last week to triple digits over the weekend, Hagins told the Associated Press (AP).

The weather conditions placed the cattle under unusual stress that their bodies were unable to adapt to, she said in the video.

“This was a very unfortunate event that was the result of the region seeing a significant change in weather in a short amount of time,” Hagins said in the video. “Temperatures rose significantly, humidity was high, there was really little to no wind, and if cattle cannot cool down over the nighttime hours because temperatures remained high, they really can’t compensate for this kind of weather, which led to heat stress in cattle in that region.”

These kinds of sudden weather changes are “not normal” for southwestern Kansas, a region she said “normally” has “very ideal” weather conditions.

“They typically have low humidity and plenty of wind,” she said. “And so, again, this was really an unusual and unfortunate event.”

A.J. Tarpoff, a cattle veterinarian at Kansas State University, told the AP the region’s heightened humidity and low winds were particularly impactful on the animals amid the heat spike and suggested the local weather situation might be improving as overnight temperatures start to cool.

While this particular weather event was unusual for the region, Hagins said cattle ranchers have strategies they implement to deal with sudden weather changes. Keeping their cattle healthy is “always their goal” for the benefit of their families and for that of consumers at large.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported at least 2,000 cattle had died in the region due to heat-related causes, according to the AP. Department officials noted that number was an early estimate, with the full impact of the recent heat wave still to be realized.

In the video KLA posted online on Thursday, Hagins said it was too soon to pinpoint an exact number of heat-related cattle deaths.

“We cannot confirm a number lost, and at this point, any number reported would be speculative,” she said.

Newsweek reached out to cattlemen’s associations in neighboring states for comment.