Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Great Arizona “Bale-out” to help Arizona fire damaged ranchers

Over 90 ranches in the Wallow Fire, Horseshoe 2 Fire and Murphy Fire areas had their grazing lands burn over in the last five weeks. It is estimated that over 800,000 acres have been lost…much of it grazing land…. and several of the fires are still burning. This is a serious problem for ranchers. Grazing lands are highly regulated by BLM and the Forest Service so one cannot just move their cattle from a burnt pasture to one that was not burned under their grazing leases and ranch management plans. Many ranchers lost all their pastures. It takes years to build up a good herd or mother cows and bulls…and if the cattle have to be sold off the ranch is wiped out. Over 7,000 cattle have had to be relocated in the wake of the fires so far. To help save the impacted ranches the Arizona Cattle Growers Association has started the Great Arizona “”bale out” to seek donations to buy hay for the fire damaged ranches...more

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