Texas wildfire puts spotlight on cattle ranchers and climate extremes: ‘so badly burned they can’t be saved’
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For the cattlemen, though, it’s the livestock and the landscapes they are reared on that may prove the biggest loss. “We don’t have grass. We don’t have water,” Joiner said, listing the resources required to maintain the animals that are still alive. Many of them aren’t doing well, he added, detailing the respiratory issues caused by smoke inhalation, the severe injuries inflicted on hooves and udders, and the orphaned calves that will need to be bottle-fed to survive. “That’s where the heartbreak is – some are burned so bad they can’t be saved.”
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The troublesome trends have impacted other states too. Across the country, inventories for US beef cows are at the lowest they have been since 1951, according to a survey released by the USDA in January. Extremes have always been part of the job, but Weltmer doesn’t dismiss the challenges ahead. He’s determined to adapt. “I feel it is my responsibility to leave the ground better,” he said. “I want it to be here for my kids.”
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“In some respects it is still very raw,” he said, recounting the horrifying memories of a desperate search for survivors of his herd. Only a quarter of his 400-head herd were found alive and many of them wouldn’t survive their injuries. Daley and his family found cattle with their legs burned off, or their eyes gone, the animals he cared for rendered unrecognizable and stiffened where they lay on the scorched earth. Dead calves were found alongside dead fawns, perhaps huddled together in their final moments before they were overtaken by the flames.
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To navigate the challenges ahead, Daley has called for strong centrist voices that can lead local, landscape-specific mitigation, with less arguing and more action. In his area, that means adopting sustainable strategies that lessen climate impact, but also more forest treatments that reduce fuels, following the lead from Indigenous nations that stewarded the lands long before they became cities, states and cattle ranges, and bringing healthy fire back to the forest. To accomplish all of that, he said, people will need to come together.
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