3 Types of Wildfire Cattle: Healthy, Dead, or Need to Be Euthanized

Veterinarians and livestock producers are assessing more than antibiotic use in southwest Kansas where a blaze swept through the high plains earlier this month.

Ranchers are still determining their losses and rounding up cattle. Those in Clark County, Kan. say cattle on wheat had a higher survival rate. Dr. Randall Spare, president of Ashland Veterinary Center, Inc., says many cattle on the hills died, and the injuries and infection to cattle depend on location.

“There are three kinds of cattle: they are either alive and healthy, dead, or those that need to be put to sleep,” said Spare.

“There are calves bucking and bawling and they look great,” he said. “The problems are either they’re blind, cows’ utters have been burnt and they’re tender, and their feet have such severe inflammation—their hooves are falling off.”

Spare believes there were 3,000 to 6,000 cattle that died in his area, not including baby calves, but they are still counting losses.