The New Year is here, but in Oregon, some ranchers and livestock producers are still trying to recover from record wildfires back in 2024. Matt McCelligott, past president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said those wildfires left a devastating legacy.
“When it does burn, it does go through forest land and also goes through open rangeland,” McCelligott said. “But all of it is rangeland, quite frankly, and when it burns, then it creates such damage to the environment that we can’t, as an industry, graze cattle or sheep or any other livestock on that for a couple of years, unless the conditions are just exceptional, and usually they aren’t.”
McElligott says wildfires can burn so hot that they destroy any seed bank in the soil, inhibiting future growth. The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association has launched a fund to assist ranchers affected by wildfires across the state.
Cattle groups say additional imports would offer little relief for consumers but could erode rancher confidence as the industry begins to rebuild herds.
October 21, 2025 11:06 AM
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The government shutdown has touched nearly every sector of the ag industry since it began, and now impacts are spilling over into dairy.
October 20, 2025 12:46 PM
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Expect firm calf and fed-cattle prices — pair selective heifer retention with prudent hedging and liquidity to bridge rebuilding costs.
October 17, 2025 04:54 PM
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The National FFA Organization hosts the Washington Leadership Conference, where thousands of FFA members gather to learn how to be change makers in their communities.
October 17, 2025 02:22 PM
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National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew discusses the urgent need for aid as farm families face mounting input costs and long-term market uncertainty.
October 17, 2025 01:08 PM
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The new antitrust agreement between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) aims to enforce antitrust laws and monitor market activity across the ag sector.
October 17, 2025 12:27 PM
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President Donald Trump says a deal is nearly done on lowering beef prices, but he has not released details.
October 17, 2025 11:31 AM
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Peel says Mexico has a much greater capability to expand its beef industry than it did 20 or 30 years ago in terms of its feeding and packing infrastructure.
October 16, 2025 03:59 PM
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The impacts of the government shutdown have reached commodity growers with crops to move, ag economists monitoring the harvest without key data reporting, and meat producers in need of new export markets.
October 16, 2025 01:03 PM
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