OMAHA, NEBRASKA (RFD NEWS) — Nebraska wildfires continue to impact ranchers across the state, leaving many scrambling to find feed and relocate cattle as conditions evolve. The agriculture community is now coming together to support those affected.
Earlier in the week, firefighters were working to contain a rash of fires, including four major wildfires, across the state.
Craig Uden, president of the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association, joined us on Friday’s Market Day Report to provide an update on the situation. As of this morning, officials say the fires are 100 percent contained, but high winds forecast for the region remain a major concern as recovery efforts begin.
“Well, as we mentioned earlier, we’re going to be hot and dry again this week with a lot of low humidity, so we’ll be watching again this week,” Uden said. " They are pretty much contained—people cutting lines and cattle gathered around. Particularly in the western part, those cattle will be moved out because of the big fire. The Mullen fire would be approximately 635,000 acres, so a lot of cattle will have to find a new home for a while. Some of those cattle will be sold.”
In his interview with RFD News, Uden shared the latest on fire conditions and what he is hearing from producers facing difficult decisions about moving livestock and replacing lost forage. He also addressed where the greatest needs may lie as recovery efforts continue.
“Still lots of challenges for those guys to find feed, but a lot of volunteerism, you know, with firefighters—we’ve seen really coming together on a community effort there,” Uden explained. “And then feed resources—lots of people hauling hay, grain, distillers’ grain, whatever they need—and coordinating that effort. That’s part of what we’re trying to do, is hook the people up that need the feed with people who have the feed. [...] Well, we’re grateful that there are so many people who want to contribute. And like I said, today the immediate need is feed. Down the way, it’ll be a lot of fencing because this thing burned so fast and so hot. A lot of the fences are gone, corrals are gone, facilities—some people lost their entire place.”
Uden also discussed potential ripple effects for agriculture, as Nebraska remains one of the nation’s leading beef-producing states.
“So, you know, everything you’ve worked for, for 40, 50, 60 years and generations—it’s gone in five minutes,” he said. “So we’ve got to get over that initial shock. But, you know, the cattle still need to be taken care of. A lot of the cattle, probably out west, are just getting going on calving. Some of those calves are a little bit later, so those cattle won’t be quite as hard to move. Some of the cattle are in the Cottonwood fire, which is close to here. We are in the process of being gathered. So there are a lot of different challenges for different operators.”
Uden highlighted the impact of wildfires on livestock, land, and infrastructure, and discussed the disaster relief fund launched to support affected producers. Also, sharing videos of the fires and the devastation has encouraged a lot of support from neighbors.
“Well, I think it actually helps us come together a little bit,” he said. “Whenever we have some of these disasters, people really step up and volunteer to come out. There’ll be a lot of people that today — they’re hauling hay. I think we’ll see fencing crews coming in. There’ll be a lot of people wanting to donate supplies. There’s been a lot of coordinated efforts and working back and forth with different associations and different values out there that we’re posting where people can help, whether it be monetary or physical. This is going to take a long time, particularly the fire in the Mullen area, because that is—again—it’s on the sandhills. So those cattle stay there year-round, and when this dries—it’s been dry the last several years—it just takes a long time for that grass to come back because it’s sandhills.
When it comes to support, Uden is confident the cattle community will come together to support producers in need.
“We will see a lot of people who will step up, and they may drylot some of those cattle,” he explained. “There’ll be some opening of CRP possibly down the way. There are other states that may be volunteering some land that they may have.”
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