HARDINSBURG, Ky. — Cattlemen in parts of the Midwest and Plains are reeling from fires that scorched almost 2 million acres – roughly the size of Delaware – across four states in March.

 

The Texas Panhandle, along with parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, suffered damage that will end up totaling in the tens of millions of dollars. But a group of Kentucky cattle producers are doing what they can to assist in the relief effort.

 

Eight counties from the Bluegrass State are collecting and distributing several tractor-trailer loads of hay and fencing supplies to take to Protection, Kan., located on the Oklahoma border.

 

The wildfires are the largest in Kansas history, with more than 651,000 acres destroyed.

 

“Kansas has the most damage. Almost 10,000 head of cattle were lost there,” said Bobby Bell, president of the Breckinridge County Cattlemen’s Assoc., whose office is heading up the relief efforts. “These people have lost hay, houses and equipment. We know of one rancher who lost 500 cattle alone. Some of these ranchers have upward of 45,000 acres. That is many miles of lost fencing.”

 

The losses are roughly 10 times the average for this time of year and the most acres burned as of mid-March since 2006, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

 

“It’s going to take years for them to recover from this,” said Bell. “It’s not going to happen overnight. One lady told me she is going to have to sell half her cow herd this summer because she won’t have enough hay to feed them.”

 

Ranchers do have programs to fall back on in times of disaster. The 2014 farm bill’s Livestock Indemnity Program, through USDA’s Farm Service Agency, helps producers receive partial compensation. With proper documentation, this program can reimburse ranchers for up to 75 percent of the market value of cattle lost in the fire until the preset loss limit for a producer is reached.

 

Additionally, a portion of fencing replacement costs may be covered through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP.

 

On March 21, the USDA also announced the availability of more than $6 million in funding to implement practices that will assist those affected. The funding, made available through EQIP, will assist those needing to restore land, rebuild fencing, protect damaged watersheds and implement various conservation measures to mitigate losses.

 

“The USDA allocated money, but it takes a while to for that money to get allotted,” explained Carol Hinton, extension agent for Breckinridge County. “You can’t spread $6 million over that many acres. That’s why the USDA programs are there, is to help disasters such as this.”

 

Some ranches are reporting fencing replacement costs to be upwards of $10,000 per mile. “You think about fence, and you never think that it would be destroyed, but they’ve got to get a start somehow,” said Hinton. “We’re only a drop in the bucket. If you look at what we’re taking, it’s a lot to us, but it’s at least going to get a few more miles of fence for some residents out there. “This project is a way for the whole community to get involved and be a part of this effort. We all felt that need in our heart to do something for somebody that we knew was looking for help.”