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CATTLE RANCHERS DESCRIBE 'WORST NIGHTMARE'

H

HAY MAKER

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> CATTLE RANCHERS DESCRIBE 'WORST NIGHTMARE'
>
> Ranchers saw the end of their world Monday.Dead cattle mottled the
> landscape a day after winds whipped fire into a murderous frenzy across
> six Texas Panhandle counties."It's like Armageddon out here," McLean-area
> rancher Bill Bryant said."We hauled - I don't remember - 15 to 18 calves
> that were dead. They just get into a corner and the fire consumes
> them."Worse than the dead were the dying.Cattle without ears.Tails
> amputated by fire.Eyelids melted shut.Ranchers had no choice but to put
> the burned cattle down."Imagine your worst nightmare, and it can't even
> come close to this," said Brad Overstreet, a hand on the Taylor Ranch.Fire
> killed four horses in a pasture on the ranch six miles north of
> Alanreed."All the horses were dead when we found them," Overstreet said.
> "They didn't have a hair on them."It's the worst thing you've ever seen in
> your life."Wind swept across ranges that looked eerily barren - worse than
> land sucked dry by months of drought, said Mike Darsey, who ranc!
> hes the Les Darsey family operation six miles north of Alanreed on state
> Highway 291."It almost looks like a desert around here," he said. "In a
> lot of places it looks like sand dunes. It's not charred and black like
> you normally would think of after a fire."Ranchers toiled Monday not just
> to deal with the dead and injured, but to feed those that remain.Hay
> already hard to come by due to months without rain went up in a puff of
> smoke.Ranchers who had learned to deal with the shortage found themselves
> scrambling to provide sustenance to the living."We have no moisture, we
> have no grass, the hay is burnt up. What do you do?" Bryant said. "I'm
> numb."He described a highway north of McLean strewn with cattle
> carcasses.The fences designed to keep them safely penned had been consumed
> by fire."There's miles and miles of fences burnt up," Darsey said.At
> $10,000 per mile, replacing the fences segmenting more than 650,000 acres
> of Panhandle ranchland will be highly costly, said Dr. Bo!
> b Robinson, agriculture regional program director at the Texas A&M Uni
> versity Extension Service in Amarillo.The now-porous fencing in the
> fire-stricken area once held in about 25,000 cows, some of them pregnant,
> since it is calving season, Robinson said. It was unknown Monday how many
> perished.Every one loaded up and hauled away represents an investment of
> $1,200 to $1,800, he said.And a rancher's time, sweat and tears.They'll
> have to closely observe the surviving members of their herds for weeks,
> Robinson said.Cattle that seemed fine after a Stephenville fire became
> crippled by hoof problems that didn't show themselves for two
> weeks.Firefighters have performed heroics in saving much of anything from
> Sunday's inferno, the ranchers said as they tried to look forward."Last
> night we were driving about 2 (a.m.). There was fire to the north, fire to
> the west and fire to the east," Bryant said. "It's just devastating."
>
> :
> http://www.amarillo.com/stories/031406/new_4214034.shtml
>
> **********************************************
>
> http://amarillo.com
>
>
 
greg said:
Not good,the fires out yet?
Click to expand...

I havent heard anything this morning,have a friend that ranches in the Stephenville area that has been keeping me up to date on the fires when he aint out trying to help fight them,havent heard from him this morning.......good luck
 
We had a 1500 acre fire several years ago and that was bad enough. I can't imagine what those poor folks are going through :cry: Our prayers are with them.
 
How awful wish you folks could come and take some of the rain we've been getting to help put your fires out. We seen to have no shortage of it every winter its are liquid snow here on the westcoast.
 
this one brought tears to my eyes!! Not only the agony of the cattle who "survived", but for the helpless ranchers who could only stand back and watch as thier livelihood went up in smoke!!! How absolutely awful!! If there is ANYTHING that we can do, please let us know!! By the way, where is FEMA?? Where is help??? :cry: :cry:
 
I was in on the fighting of a 70,000 acre fire a few years ago, and it is surely something to fear and respect. They slurry bombed my friends trailer house to save it and his buildings. I don't think he lost any cattle that time, but there were a few head lost I think, in that fire. It is a great wonder more weren't because this was in dense pine hill country. It is a miracle there wasn't a huge die out of stock that time. The worst part comes in the expense after the fire. Memories fade, but it shows up in the bank statements for years.

And of course there are the feelings for the people and animals that have lost their lives in this HUGE Texas fire. :(

Hope they get some rain SOON.
 
We're certainly lucky in that regard here in Canada. We never get prairie fires covering tens of thousands of acres.

Good luck to all in its path. Hopefully they all come through with their lives. Homes can be rebuilt, loved ones are what matters.
 
Boy, do we ever feel for those ranchers in Texas. We've had some bad fires here and there is nothing more scary and disheartening. Just makes you heart ache for them and their livestock.
Tap: I was in on the fighting of a 70,000 acre fire a few years ago, and it is surely something to fear and respect. They slurry bombed my friends trailer house to save it and his buildings. I don't think he lost any cattle that time, but there were a few head lost I think, in that fire. It is a great wonder more weren't because this was in dense pine hill country. It is a miracle there wasn't a huge die out of stock that time. The worst part comes in the expense after the fire. Memories fade, but it shows up in the bank statements for years.
Click to expand...
That must have been the Kraft Springs fire? I was in on that one too. Spent several days providing medical services out of the camp west of Camp Crook and it left some memories no one there will ever forget.

The things that stick with me the most were watching sky red with flames through eyes that burned from the smoke that was everywhere, watching the local firefighters literally collapse with exhaustion when they finally made it into camp after days on the fire line with no sleep, and the way the fire made its own wild wind.

Another thing I'll never forget was the look of desperation on the faces of the folks that were evacuated from their ranches, some of them moved out several times, when the fire was almost on top of them. Hope we never see anything like it again.
 
We never get prairie fires covering tens of thousands of acres.
Click to expand...

I remember the one that wiped out Shields, ND a few years ago. If I remember right, it was about 30,000 acres.
A couple houses, the bar and the post office were the only things to survive.

The standing joke was that the regulars in the bar saw the fire coming and built a backfire out of the church across the street. :wink:
 

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