Colorado Army National Guard crew chief Nick Cornelius is spending this week doing something he wasn't trained to do: tossing bundles of hay out the back of an attack helicopter.

Bale after bale, about 500 in all, tumbled from choppers above snowbound southeastern Colorado in a battle to save thousands of head of cattle -- and the regional economy -- from the devastation of a winter storm that has held parts of the plains in a frigid grip.

Rescue and aid operations for people and livestock were to continue Wednesday, while utilities in sections of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado worked round the clock to restore electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.