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Local ranchers start assessing losses from range fires
A pair of range fires that swept through the mountains north of Mountain Home have had a devastating affect on the local cattle industry.
According to Wyatt Prescott, a spokesman with the Idaho Cattlemen's Association, the impact on cattle herds to date is already worse than the losses from the Trinity Ridge Fire last year.
Prescott expects the final numbers of dead and injured cattle will far exceed current estimates. For now, individual ranchers will have to deal with the dead cattle.
Calvin Ireland, whose family owns one of the major ranches in the fire-stricken area, had roughly 200 head of cattle in the Wilson Flat and Wilson Creek areas near House Mountain when the fire started.
"The cattle just didn't have a chance," Ireland said. The blaze kept pushing them out of the flat land into more rugged terrain.
"What we're seeing is not good," he added. "We're finding the dead ones in bunches. We're not finding a lot of live ones, but there's a lot of land out there."
Last week, Ireland had eight people on horseback searching for the scattered members of the herd. To date, they had found about 40 live cattle.
He expects it'll take at least two weeks to get an initial assessment on how much of the herd was lost from the fire.
"It's just astonishing how much was lost," Ireland added regarding the amount of land that was burned by both fires. "It's almost unbelievable."
A drought earlier this year only complicates the problem, he added. There was already a limited amount of available grazing food, and the fire burned what remained.
It could take months before the state cattle agency can accurately gauge how much of an impact the fires had on the thousands of head of cattle that were in the area before the fires began, Prescott said. For now, cattle producers are doing everything they can to save their herds, he said.
When the fires flared up, they caused many of the herds to scatter. Prescott expects it'll take months for ranchers to locate and retrieve all of their missing cattle.
"There are hard days to come to gather the herds back together," he added.
It's possible that both fires could have a significant impact on young calves, which are normally paired with an adult cow on the open ranges.
When a herd flees from a range fire, the calves can fall behind and become separated from their mothers, Prescott said. Instinctively, a calf will run back to the place where they last saw their mother, even if it means running back into the fire.
Ireland didn't hold out much hope that the calves from his herd were able to escape.
Looking ahead, Prescott expects the surviving cattle could have long-term health issues associated by the fires, including respiratory problems and injured hooves.
To date, both fires have consumed more than 277,000 acres and had blackened places like House Mountain. According to Ireland, it's hard for people to take those numbers and fully comprehend what these ranchers have lost.
"Until you see it for yourself, you just can't imagine the magnitude of this," Ireland said.
For many of these ranchers, the impact from the fire is expected to continue long after the flames are extinguished.
"It's not just a 'now' thing," Ireland said. It'll take at least three or four years before any of this scorched land is suitable for grazing once again.
As area cattlemen begin recovering surviving livestock from the fires that tore through the heart of the summer range in Elmore County, an effort was launched last week to help ranchers hit hardest by the blaze.
A fundraiser planned for Sept. 28 is aiming to raise funds to help ranchers whose grazing land was lost after the Pony and Elk Complex fires swept through the area.
The event is scheduled to begin at noon that day at Little Camas Inn, 25322 East Highway 20 north of Mountain Home.
The Southern Idaho Cattle Rancher Fire Victim Relief was an idea developed by Hailey Russ, whose family owns one of the ranches affected by the fire. Raising cattle was a way of life for her father, Jeff Arrizabalaga.
"It was everything to him," she added.
Her family had already lost 20 head of cattle due to the fire and were still looking for the remaining 100 late last week. Like some ranchers, her family had a limited amount of insurance on their cattle or their grazing land. However, it didn't include fire coverage.
"The fire took everything my dad had," she said, adding that other ranchers were hit just as hard.
"Many of these ranchers are too busy just trying to save what's left to start trying to solve these other problems," Russ said.
According to Russ, a herd of 100 cows need to eat about four tons of hay per day to remain healthy. That averages out to $800 per day for each of these herds.
The Southern Idaho Cattle Rancher Fire Victim Relief will help local ranchers find pasture and feed during these "devastating fires," she added.
While details were still being ironed out, the upcoming fund raiser is expected to include a spaghetti feed and a silent auction. All proceeds will go to help buy hay for the displaced cattle.
For more information on the benefit or to get involved, contact Russ at 599-1813 Robin Hawks at 371-3702. Details are also posted at the Southern Idaho Cattle Rancher Fire Victim Relief link on Facebook.