Continued Drought in Texas Leaves Farmers Concerned About Wildfire Risks

For the past three years, rainfall has been lacking across the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, leaving the area drought-stricken and prone to wildfire.

Warren Cude, a third generation commercial cow/calf and commercial sheep operator in Fort Stockton, Texas, said rainfall has been sparse across the region throughout the last three years. The most recent rain on his operation fell during the first weekend of September 2024. 

Wildfires a Big Concern

“Our biggest scare right now is wildfires,” Cude said. Although the dry weather has limited the amount of grass that could burn, Cude said there are cedar trees that could catch fire. 

There have also been “tremendous winds” that have Cude concerned about powerlines falling over in his area, resulting in fire risks. He said he’s also worried about trucks on the nearby highway having blowouts that could start a fire.

In order to keep his cattle and sheep safe from the wildfire risks, Cude said he’s got fire guards in various locations around his operation. “We’ve also invested in some old military trucks that we’ve rigged up for firefighting,” Cude said. 

“We’re 40 miles out in the country,” Cude said, “so [if a fire breaks out] usually the ranchers will all see the smoke prior to it being reported to the fire departments in town. All the ranchers pull together and have spray rigs [to fight the fires].” 

However, if the winds are blowing in excess of 30 to 40 mph, Cude said his plan is to cut fences to give his livestock a fighting chance of surviving because it’s not possible to stop or get in front of the fire in those scenarios.

Brush Control 

Not only does Cude have fire guards in place, but he said he’s continuously working on controlling the brush on his property, “even in a drought situation.”

Cude said they use a helicopter on his ranch to spray the brush alongside mechanical excavators to remove cedar trees, which are highly flammable and a “water drag.”

Getting rid of the cedar trees reallocates water to the grasses that his sheep and cattle graze on, Cude said. “If we can get rid of the unwanted brush, our native grasses get the moisture.”

While no rain is in the forecast, Cude said removing the unwanted brush will make a huge difference when rain does fall on his operation again. 

“I’m watching the drought monitor and our long term forecast,” Cude said, “and they’re saying above normal temps and below normal rainfall until August.”

The latest drought monitor map for Texas shows 14% of the state facing D4 exceptional drought conditions. Fifteen percent of Texas is in D3 extreme drought, 19% is in D2 severe drought, 22% is in D1 moderate drought, and 16% is abnormally dry. The remaining 14% of the state is free from drought stress.

Reduced Herd Size

As the drought conditions continue year-over-year, Cude said he’s also had to reduce both his cattle and sheep herds by half to keep his operation afloat. 

Typically, Cude said he would run 400 head of cattle and 3,000 sheep across his ranch, but, because of the lack of vegetation, he’s reduced his numbers to half capacity. 

“This week we actually ended up selling a bunch of heifers that we would have kept for replacements,” Cude said.

While the reduction in his herds does leave Cude feeling like he’s just “trying to hang on,” he said it won’t take long for him to repopulate his herd size. “It doesn’t take long to feed up the calf crop or lamb crop,” he said.