Local ranchers save cattle during Henry’s Creek Fire

There are hundreds of cattle in the foothills where the Henry’s Creek Fire is burning and several ranchers are making game plans to get them to safety. Ken Davis, one rancher in a group of about seven met up with his fellow ranchers Wednesday morning to rescue about 800 of his cattle in Falls Creek.

“Our cattle could burn, cattle don’t really like fire,” said Davis. The ranchers worked to be proactive rather than reactive- a statement one of the ranchers reiterated throughout the rescue job.

“that’s our livelihood…it’d be pretty devastating,”said Davis who nervously spoke about the rescue operation as he talked about the possibility of the fire hitting the Falls Creek area. As many people worry about the safety of animals Davis assured it’s their top priority “We’re going to protect ’em because they’re important to us to and we’ll get em we’ll get em,” said Davis.

Although having cows graze in the foothills can be a benefit for ranchers “anything that’s grazed it’s not going to burn through it as fast it’ll slow it down it’s not old grass it’s fresher grass it’s shorter grass,” said Matt Schofield, another rancher working on the rescue. Without the cows grazing it’s possible the fires could have ripped through much sooner. Another problem this year was the fact that the grass, or the feed for the cattle was really good for them, but also really easy for fire conditions.

Another big concern for the ranchers is if the federal land where their cattle grazes burns. Most of the land is Forest Service land and ranchers say if that land burns, they’ll be required to stay off of it for two years.