When Douglas rancher Kiley Scott-Kocher learned that four wildfires were ripping through northern Wyoming ranchlands last week, her first thought was, “It could be us — tomorrow.”
From her family’s home ranch 115 miles to the south, Scott-Kocher ached for her friends in Campbell County as she watched the Flat Rock and Constitution fires explode to tens of thousands of acres in days.
Some friends told Scott-Kocher heartbreaking and nightmarish stories of their burnt and deformed cattle, charred pastures and wasted fences.
Ranchers in Johnson County and along a region in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana have experienced similar horrors from the 174,000-acre House Draw fire in Johnson County and the 196,000-acre Remington Fire farther north.
“When all the fires started happening and they were going at 110 acres a minute, I just knew it was going to devastate people, and I knew it was going to take them days to even figure out if they had cattle left to feed,” said Scott-Kocher.
She wanted to anticipate those ranchers’ needs even before they could, she said.
So Scott-Kocher started Wyoming Rancher Fire Relief along with her friend Alicia Werner of Edgerton, Wyoming. It’s a Facebook page helping to coordinate donors, drivers, ranchers and help of all sorts.
With a background in social media management and marketing, Scott-Kocher said she’s keeping a keen eye out to prevent potentially fraudulent posts.
She also wants to remind the devastated ranchers they’re not alone.
“I just hope the support we’ve rallied for our friends in these places affected by the fires will give them some hope that there is still good in our community, and their neighbors have their backs,” she said.
Some Variety Here
The page’s stated mission is to raise money for hay, hauling and fencing supplies for ranches impacted by and/or fighting the fires. Since its formation Thursday, it has gathered a wild variety of philanthropic posts, from a breeding ranch auctioning off a stud horse’s genetics to a team ready to hunt prairie dogs off the burned-out landscape.
“We can do prairie dog control – while they have nothing to eat and before they move on,” reads a Wednesday post by Kelly Winsor of Powder River Ag. “We also do fencing and can help you get those pastures back in shape for livestock.”
Winsor did not respond to a voicemail request for comment by publication time. But that prairie dog campaign stems from a legitimate concern, Scott-Kocher said.
“Where there’s no grass, that’s where the prairie dogs dig their holes and congregate,” she said. “It’ll come. That’ll be something that will be an issue.”
In western South Dakota, Myers Performance Horses is auctioning off the breeding matter of its stud, I’maSpecial Kindaguy, for use in the 2025 breeding season. The performance stallion’s breeding has a value of $2,000, Bill Myers told Cowboy State Daily.
“I hope it helps them. The poor people went through some terrible stuff,” said Myers of the ranchers in the flames.
That auction ends Monday and was up to a $500 bid as of Wednesday afternoon.
“It should get more than that,” said Myers, adding that the buyer is responsible for collection and shipping.
But Mainly Hay And Fence Supplies
But the ranchers’ two most urgent imminent needs are hay and fencing supplies, Scott-Kocher said. So far, her group has overseen 50 loads worth of hay donations.
“I know that’s not even touching it because Buffalo Livestock has gotten so much. It’s been crazy,” she said.
Buffalo Livestock Marketing also hosted a rollover auction Wednesday. That’s an auction during which people bid on a steer, donate the steer back to the auction host, and the host auctions off the steer again, repeatedly.
The auction raised roughly $21,000 for the ranch relief effort, Tye Curuchet told Cowboy State Daily. The money is scheduled to go to a fence-buying event in Sheridan, which Curuchet said MTR Ranch Supply has been overseeing.
MTR Ranch Supply did not immediately return a phone message request for comment.
If They Can’t Survive Winter
Volunteer firefighter Kelly Ostendorf was fighting the Remington Fire after it breached its fire lines and sprinted into Montana on Thursday evening and Friday.
“We were there for the worst of it,” said Ostendorf, who ranches near Broadus, Montana. “(We tried) anything and everything we could as it was burning. When something’s burning like that you can’t do a whole lot.”
Winds ranging from 20-30 mph frenzied the fire all night.
Ostendorf went home exhausted, but determined to help other ranchers.
He’s been working to connect people who would like to donate and deliver hay with people who need it. That can be a touchy business, since asking a rancher how many cattle he has is kind of like “asking a woman how much she weighs.”
But he said he’s trying to pursue these topics delicately and just put people in touch with the right helpers.
“Ranching is a pretty personal thing, and each person’s operation is different,” he said. “I don’t want to know people’s numbers.”
Ostendorf also has been trying to connect ranchers with Wyoming-based order buyers for the American Food Group, a processing plant out of Minnesota, to help the producers get their meat-salvageable cattle that aren’t fit to survive winter to the processor without having to go through an auction.
This may help people dodge hassles in the fires’ aftermath, and help them dodge winter vet and feed expenses on injured cattle, he noted.
Ostendorf said he’s hoping to connect with people willing to haul hay.
A Rozet, Wyoming, woman posted an offer to haul any donated hay in a Facebook post over the weekend. The woman did not immediately respond to a message request for comment.
So Humble
Another factor making it difficult for philanthropists to bless the northern Wyoming ranches is their humility, Torrington-based hay marketer Thorpe Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“Everybody’s so dang humble,” said Thompson. “When you ask them if they need anything, the most common comment is, ‘We’re doing all right, but there’s somebody down the road that’s got it worse off than we do.’”
Thompson and his friend Scott Arthun have been organizing hay deliveries to a pickup/drop-off point at Arthun’s indoor barn north of Gillette.
It was Thompson’s idea, Arthun said, so that “people wanting to donate hay have a place to (keep) it for the time being.”
Arthun said he’s prepared to help people unload or load hay, and can help haul the hay from the site to the local ranches if they need it.
Nobody’s taken any of the donated hay so far, though Arthun heard from a man who knows he’ll need some, but doesn’t know what direction to take it. The man is still counting up cows and surveying his pastures for feed, Arthun said, adding that several people have reached out wanting to donate.
Thompson said that’s a feature of the agriculture community.
“Everybody’s got each other’s backs,” he said.
Wednesday Update
• As of Wednesday, the House Draw Fire in Johnson County measured at 174,683 acres and was 94% contained, the Wyoming State Forestry Division reports. It was the quickest to grow past 100,000 acres after a series of wildfires sparked about a week ago, but it’s also the first to reach near-containment.
• In nearby Campbell County, the Flat Rock Fire the northwest of Gillette measured at 52,421 acres Wednesday evening and was 75% contained. In a residentially-packed area, the Flat Rock has damaged fences, cattle and ranchlands, and continues to flare in pockets of juniper and pinyon timber.
• The Constitution Fire north of Gillette had burned 24,594 acres as of Wednesday evening, and was 57% contained, the WSFD reports.
• The Remington Fire in Sheridan County and southeast Montana measured at 196,459 acres in size with 61% containment, up from 50% containment reported Wednesday morning.
• In the more timber-dense region near the Teton and Fremont County line in northwest Wyoming, the Fish Creek Fire measured at 11,420 acres and 34% completion.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
