Last year, the VanWinkle family fought flames to keep their cattle business alive. This year, they’re fighting drought — and they worry the drought will be worse.
The Turner Gulch fire sparked after dry lightning swept through Mesa County in mid-July, threatening lives, homes and infrastructure. As the flames raced across the dry landscape during hot and windy days, the fire spread into the vast high country where ranchers, like the VanWinkles, grazed hundreds of cows on federal land.
The family’s No. 1 goal was not to lose cattle, Janie VanWinkle remembered. They woke up at dawn to be on-site in case they needed to move the herd. When cows became separated, they would run in to look for the animals between slurry drops. At one point, only a half-mile from the fire, VanWinkle got slurry on her arm.
“Then we would run in and look for cows,” she said. “Then we would run out and wait for the next round. It was intense.”
The fire burned for 47 days, but the family’s work continued for another two and a half months as they managed the herd on unfamiliar grazing land and brought them out of the high country in the fall, VanWinkle said.
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