Nebraska Cattle Producers Create Convoy of Relief as Kansas Rancher Says Wildfire Recovery Will Take Years

On December 15, 2021, Western Kansas ranchers faced the extreme. With winds clocking in north of 100 miles per hour, warnings of wildfires came fast.

“It unfolded pretty fast,” says Clinton Laflin, a rancher and Kansas State livestock extension agent,  Russell County, kansas “I was home for about five minutes. And then the skies started getting really dark. It was extremely smoky. My landlord, Ken Stielo [Bar S Ranch], came over and said, ‘We need to get out of here right now. ‘”

But with livestock in danger, Laflin returned to the ranch with the owners of Bar S Ranch.

“We came back out and got those cows moved, but right after that, that wind speed changed direction on us and our fire started coming straight at us. And I was very nervous that we were going to get pinned in. And so we booked it in my truck,” he says.

At that point, Laflin had only one of two working trucks on the ranch, as the winds and fires had flipped over the others.

“With the 105 mile an hour winds that we had and fires were really raging everywhere, and so that's pretty scary,” he remembers.

But was even scarier was with raging winds that changed directions, how those caught in the fires had to escape.

“I had to jump down an electric line pole and a couple of live wires to get out,” he says.

Laflin says the high winds forced over power lines, and with Western Kansas already dry, it sparked the wildfires in minutes.

“We haven't had any measurable rainfall for over 60 days,” he says. “And so the dry conditions of our forage and high winds plus electricity have a pretty good mix for fire.”

Still cautious of flareups the days after, Lalin says area ranchers are assessing the damage.

“We've had more than 40,000 acres of pasture burned up and multiple homes. And, and farmsteads during that time as well,” he says.

And he says the fires were costly as he estimates losses will be well into the millions.

“It's a staggering thing that we're going to have to take some time to kind of recover from,” says Laflin.

From fencing to hay supplies, even homes, barns and livestock, he says the Russell and Paradise, Kansas areas are in ashes.

“We're looking at losses in registered cattle,” says Laflin. “They have a lot of value, genetically to myself and my landlords, and just cattle in general. For many of our other neighbors and producers, they are looking at losses in  fencing, we're looking at losses in, in pasture ground and being able to convert that from a grass to a protein source that we can use.”

At this point, he says ranchers in the area are working to find supplies… and in desperate need of rain.

“We've lost we've lost lives of cattle and other livestock, we've lost our homes, we've lost barns, we've lost grass, we've lost vehicles. And we've and we've lost, we've lost our livelihoods in a lot of ways. And so it's going to take years to recover that,” he says.

As Western Kansas ranchers face a recovery that could take years.

Neighboring Ranchers Send Help 

As ranchers work to rebuild, they face a total loss in many cases. But the agriculture community is already showing what makes rural America so great, as help has been rushing in. Matt McCune shared a video that shows a convoy of hay flooding into Kansas, as Nebraska ranchers stepped into help.

Shout out to Nebraska! HUGE convoy of hay just came through! Thank you guys! #fourcountyfire #agtwitterhttps://t.co/VB8t7El2Q8 — Matt McCune (@ksufearless) December 22, 2021

The following memo was sent to Nebraska Cattlemen earlier this week, as more coordinated efforts are now coming together to provide assistance to an area in need. 

Here's How You Can Help 

As the Kanas Livestock Association continues to work to deploy resources, as LMA says there are four collection and distribution points for supply donations of hay, stockwater tanks, fencing supplies and more. Those designated collection points include: 

Rooks County
Heartland Regional Stockyards 
907 NW 3rd St, Plainville, KS
785-688-4080

Russell County
Russell Livestock 
720 S. Fossil, Russell, KS
785-483-1455

Russell County Fairgrounds 
702 Fairway Dr. Russell
Marcia Geir: 785-483-3157 

Lane County
3 E Rd 120, Dighton, KS
Erik Steffens: 620-397-1687