Wildfires leave producers to make some tough decisions
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Texas
The grass is gone, destroyed by fire. Hay is short. Soil moisture is almost non-existent.
Some tough decisions lie ahead for ranchers caught in the wake of the recent fast-moving wildfires, a Texas Cooperative Extension specialist said.
"Something that is important, after they get through the emotional part of this, is looking at the long-term," said Dr. Ted McCollum, Extension livestock specialist. "The cold, hard fact is if we don't get any significant rain in the next several months, those rangelands that burned up aren't going to be able to carry any cattle until next fall."
Ranchers need to realize that because of the drought in other parts of the state, hay supplies are very short, McCollum said. Hay, if any if found, will have to come from some other part of the state, with transportation costs and logistics added.
Ranchers opting to continue feeding their animals have several options, he said.
Low quality hay can be supplemented with concentrated nutrients to balance out what the cattle need, McCollum said, but the biggest issue is trying to find the bulk feed the cattle need.
The other option may be to get away from the traditional thinking of feeding hay and feed a more concentrated diet, he said. Fewer pounds of feed would be required, but the cattle would have to be fed in a trough or on the ground.
"It might be easier than feeding large quantities of hay," McCollum said. "But it also would require them to have some fences still in place."
Cotton burrs are another option with some supplement, he noted.
The other option to feeding is selling the cattle, he said.
"This might not be the best time to be selling," McCollum said. "But they need to weigh the alternatives of selling now versus the feeding costs. Look at de-stocking partially or fully. The net loss or net gain of selling out now and buying back later may be relatively the same as trying to figure out how to feed those cows for several months."
One consideration, he said, is that now is traditionally close to when a prescribed burn might have been done for management purposes under different circumstances.
"Given that fact, the timing, and the rate at which the fires moved, the damage to the plant community might not be as bad as we think it is," McCollum said.
The problem is soil moisture, he said. The recovery of those areas is going to be slow.
"If we get any rainfall in the next month or so, the recovery may be better than people think it is," McCollum said. "The key factor: Can we get any timely rainfall?"
But regardless of whether the rain comes, the carrying capacity is going to be a lot lower than normal. Where stocking rates average one cow per 25 acres, even with rain, ranchers would face stocking at less than half of that, or one cow per 50 or more acres.
The range needs to be at 2 to 3 inches of growth on perennial grasses, so it may be June before any grazing would be available, even with rain, McCollum said. Without rain, animals can't be put on the pasture until next fall.
Buying hay or finding pasture now is a temporary stop-gap management measure, he said. Without rain, all a produce is doing is delaying some decisions.
"I know it is hard to do, but they need to be thinking about contingencies 30, 60 or 90 days down the road," McCollum said.
Date: 3/23/06
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