Fire and Smoke Livestock Impacts Survey

Overview

Have Your Livestock Suffered from Wildfire and Smoke?

UC Davis in collaboration with Oregon State University lunched a survey in May of 2021 to gauge the impact of the 2020 wildfires on grazing livestock health and production. The objective of the survey is to gather information to better understand to what extent cattle, sheep, and goats have been impacted by direct exposure to wildfires or by indirect exposure to smoke inhalation during the fire season. Gaining this knowledge will enable us to better anticipate impacts of wildfires on livestock in the future and prepare outreach materials that help increase resilience to these disasters.

“We continue to see fires across the West each year impacting livestock grazing operations and causing direct harm and potentially more widespread impacts from smoke filled skies,” states Dr. Gaby Maier, Beef Cattle Herd Health & Production Assistant Specialist in Cooperative Extension, UC Davis. “Even if you do not think your livestock were impacted by wildfires in 2020, we would also like to hear from you.”

The survey should take about 3 - 5 minutes to complete.  Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary, and your responses will be kept anonymous. All questions are related to the 2020 wildfire season between May and December 2020. Results will be reported through different outlets including the California Cattleman Magazine.

Earlier this year the research team asked commercial cattle producers in Butte County about the impacts from wildfires, to gauge the need for this larger survey. “In this preliminary survey we heard from ranchers about direct impacts from fire on rangelands such as cattle death loss and burns,” states Tracy Schohr, Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor in Butte, Plumas and Sierra Counties, University of California Cooperative Extension.  “In addition, the majority of ranchers reported wildfire smoke increased respiratory infections, reduced weight gain, and lowered conception rates.”

We encourage all livestock producers, large and small, in the Western States to complete the quick survey - https://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_50YY07eUiRy0Bmu