N RANCHING
atural Resources
could feel what I would describe as bristly, irregular areas on their backs. You would say the horse has some minor places but isn’t going to have any signifi cant issues, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Days or weeks later, some of those horses had lost so much skin and hair, and down into the muscle, that they had to be put down.” A couple of them made return visits to the hospital over a period of months. Because the fi re had been above them, they were scarred up over their toplines, from their withers to their loin creases. So that was the second surprise the experience held
for Martin — for all their reputations as tough, burden- bearing animals, horses can be remarkably fragile and delicate when faced with such trauma. “They won’t look as bad initially,” he says, “but after a period of time, you won’t believe how much tissue is lost and devitalized. We try to get them hydrated because they have a lot of tissue damage and they tend to have is- sues with excreting some of those toxins.” Cattle can develop a unique set of health problems
when exposed to fi re, even beyond general, painful burns, according to Dr. Wesley Bissett, DVM, director of the Veterinary Emergency Team at Texas A&M. One of those is when their feet get too hot. “When you think
about so much weight on a relatively small surface area, that can be a major issue,” he says. “Lameness issues may very well be something that’s exceptionally dif- fi cult to deal with or may not be conducive to survival of the animals, depending on how severe it is.” A second potential problem could be damage to
the udders of mama cows. The teat may scar inward, leaving the cows unable to nurse their calves. And a third is smoke inhalation. “Their respiratory system doesn’t necessarily respond well to injury,” Bissett says. “Anticipating those problems in the aftermath is something to consider as well.” Unlike horses, Bissett says cattle will instinctively
move away from a fi re and will go as far as they can, until they hit a fence. But it may be a mistake, and dan- gerous, to presume they will exhibit normal behavior. He says, “You may have a set of cattle that handles
very well and is easy to pen. In the face of a wildfi re, particularly if it’s close, you may have a different set of cattle that is very resistant and moving much more quickly.” He relates an incident he witnessed when cattle
were being moved from a wildfi re fairly well — until the trucks with fl ashing lights, and the fi re engines,
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68 The Cattleman August 2016
thecattlemanmagazine.com ANNUAL
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