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Disaster looms for cattle ranchers
Drought, wildfire fallout is much worse than estimated
By Dawn House
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/18/2007 01:22:49 AM MDT
Utah ranchers devastated by recent wildfires have lost nearly eight times the number of cattle previously thought - and need more than 1,600 semitrailer truckloads of hay to feed surviving herds moved from burned-out ranges.
The disaster facing the state's No. 1 agriculture industry is told in the numbers of a Utah Department of Agriculture and Food survey of ranchers released Friday: Nearly 300 cattle and calves were killed by fire, 90 were injured and 1,285 are unaccounted for. Initial reports had placed the number of cattle killed at 200.
Fires and drought have pushed nearly half of all cattle in the state off summer ranges - forcing ranchers to sell off herds or find the money to buy hay, says a U.S. Statistical Service report. Some 78 ranchers affected by wildfires say they need at least 38,500 tons of hay to feed nearly 9,700 displaced animals, according to the Agriculture Department survey.
Those numbers don't include other producers in 25 of the state's 29 counties coping with severe drought, Utah agriculture officials say.
Rancher Clark Bradshaw of Beaver lost 38 head in the Milford Flat fire, which charred more than 363,052 acres. He hopes that recent rain will give him a few more weeks to graze his cattle on public lands. Bradshaw knows, however, that he'll have to bring home his herd long before the traditional October deadline, and then, "I'll have to get a loan
Drought, wildfire fallout is much worse than estimated
By Dawn House
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/18/2007 01:22:49 AM MDT
Utah ranchers devastated by recent wildfires have lost nearly eight times the number of cattle previously thought - and need more than 1,600 semitrailer truckloads of hay to feed surviving herds moved from burned-out ranges.
The disaster facing the state's No. 1 agriculture industry is told in the numbers of a Utah Department of Agriculture and Food survey of ranchers released Friday: Nearly 300 cattle and calves were killed by fire, 90 were injured and 1,285 are unaccounted for. Initial reports had placed the number of cattle killed at 200.
Fires and drought have pushed nearly half of all cattle in the state off summer ranges - forcing ranchers to sell off herds or find the money to buy hay, says a U.S. Statistical Service report. Some 78 ranchers affected by wildfires say they need at least 38,500 tons of hay to feed nearly 9,700 displaced animals, according to the Agriculture Department survey.
Those numbers don't include other producers in 25 of the state's 29 counties coping with severe drought, Utah agriculture officials say.
Rancher Clark Bradshaw of Beaver lost 38 head in the Milford Flat fire, which charred more than 363,052 acres. He hopes that recent rain will give him a few more weeks to graze his cattle on public lands. Bradshaw knows, however, that he'll have to bring home his herd long before the traditional October deadline, and then, "I'll have to get a loan