Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah wildfires severely impact livestock with thousands of cattle and sheep affected.
- Fires destroy rangelands and infrastructure, complicating livestock evacuation and causing smoke inhalation deaths.
- State officials assist with recovery efforts, but full impact on industry will take years.
MANTI — Utah's active wildfire season is taking a devastating toll on the state's livestock industry, with thousands of cattle and sheep affected as fast-moving fires burn across rangelands and destroy critical infrastructure.
The Cottonwood, Babylon, Iron, Cherry and Wild Goose fires have threatened ranching operations throughout the state, leaving many producers with little time to move animals out of harm's way.
"We're looking at something on the lines of 3,000 or 4,000 cows that are being affected, multiple thousand sheep that are affected," said Tom Tippets, Grazing Improvement Program deputy director with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.
State agriculture officials said the scale of livestock losses this year exceeds what they saw during the Monroe Canyon Fire last year.
The speed and intensity of the fires have made it difficult for ranchers to protect their herds. Unlike other emergency evacuations, moving livestock often requires locating animals spread across large grazing areas and physically herding them to safety.
"It takes time. You have to locate them. You have to get them going in the right direction," Tippets said. "They might be a little unfamiliar with what you're asking them to do. They might not want to do what you're asking them to do. It may take multiple people to do it, and it might take multiple days to do it."
Some animals have died from smoke inhalation as fires rapidly spread across grazing lands, Tippets said.
Beyond livestock losses, ranchers are also facing costly damage to fencing and other infrastructure critical to keeping animals contained.
"Fences are so expensive. We're seeing prices somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000 a mile," Tippets said.
The department has worked to assist producers by providing virtual fencing collars that help keep cattle within designated grazing areas. Officials have also supported water infrastructure projects, including water lines, pipelines and troughs.
The ongoing drought has further complicated recovery efforts by limiting available grazing areas for cattle and sheep displaced by the fires.
"On top of that, forage just hasn't grown like it has in the past. And in some places where they are expecting to hold cattle for three weeks or a month, maybe a week, sometimes not even at all in those spots," Tippets said.
He is meeting with producers to assess their needs and identify ways to support recovery efforts.
"Livestock is a backbone of agriculture in the state of Utah," he said. "And if we can do anything to help it, we certainly want to do that."
State officials expect the full impact of the 2026 fire season on Utah's livestock industry will take time to assess, with ranchers likely to feel the effects for years as they rebuild herds, replace fencing and restore damaged grazing lands.
"In some cases you aren't able to come back into those areas for multiple years because of reseeding and rehab work," Tippets said. "Just because this year is devastating, next year might be equally as hard. And the third year might be as hard again."
