ULAANBAATAR – An unusually brutal winter in Mongolia has left much of the country’s grazing land frozen and snow-covered, starving or freezing millions of animals and upending thousands of lives in a country where one-third of the population depends on herding and agriculture to make a living.

This year has brought the most snow in 49 years to Mongolia, and the deaths of more than 5.9 million livestock, the worst toll since 2010, international aid groups said this week.

While the harshest weather might have passed, about 60 million animals face starvation until new grass sprouts in May, imperilling the future of herding families.

“The worst is yet to come,” Mr Tapan Mishra, the top United Nations official in Mongolia, wrote in a report this week. “The peak of livestock mortality is expected at the end of April.”

The die-off is caused by a weather event known in Mongolia as dzud, where a dry summer is followed by a severe winter that brings deep snow and bitter cold, locking pastures under ice.

The deaths can be devastating for families and the country’s economy, 13 per cent of which is driven by agriculture, mostly livestock.

In March, Mr Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, Unicef’s representative in Mongolia, spent nearly three days travelling from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to a remote western village to deliver medicine.

His sport utility vehicle often became stuck in the snow. Outside each home, called a ger, he found as much as 60cm of snow, and piles of frozen animal carcasses.

“Some of the herders have lost all of their animals,” he said in an interview. “All of them.”

In eastern Mongolia, Mr Shijirbayar Dorjderem, 48, said he had lost 800 livestock in 2024 out of the 1,000 he inherited from his parents.

That was even after he had purchased thousands of packs of fodder and several tonnes of wheat, with money borrowed from a bank, to feed them over the winter. He said it was not enough to fill their stomachs.

“All I can think about is my bank loan,” he added, afraid the bank might take away his remaining livestock. “I lost almost everything.”

His province, Khentii, was one of the worst hit by the dzud. Deputy Governor Oyunbold Lkhagvasuren said the winter was merciless. About 45 per cent of the livestock there have died.

Mongolian herders are no strangers to harsh winters. Temperatures can fall to 40 deg C below zero, leaving livestock to freeze to death in a standing position.

In 2010, the dzud killed more than 10.3 million livestock, equal to 25 per cent of the country’s livestock population, according to the UN.

The rising frequency of extreme weather events has made herders’ lives more precarious.

Droughts, dust storms, heavy rainfall and flooding have all trebled in the past decade, as temperatures in Mongolia rise twice as fast as the global average.

While dzuds used to happen about once every 10 years, 2024’s event was the fifth in the past decade.

It is unclear whether the dzud weather pattern is tied to climate change, because no scientific studies looking into possible connections are available yet.

The latest dzud, which began in November 2023, has left more than 7,000 families in Mongolia lacking adequate food as the livelihoods of thousands of herders, who depend on cattle, goats and horses, were under threat, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said last week.

More than 2,000 families have lost over 70 per cent of their livestock, the organisation added, calling for assistance. Snow has also buried more than 1,000 homes.

The Mongolian government elevated its disaster preparedness level to “high alert” in February, and delivered hay, fodder, food, gas and medical supplies to herders.

But aid organisations said more was needed. The UN said about US$6.3 million (S$8.5 million) was required for the response. NYTIMES