When ranchers are in the midst of calving season, or cleaning ditches getting ready for the summer irrigation, they don’t have time to think about disaster management.
That is where Kellie Chichester, with the University of Wyoming Extension Office in Albany County, comes in.
Recently, Chichester was invited as a guest speaker at the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD) Winter Workshop to guide ranchers through the process of developing a disaster plan.
Chichester primarily works with livestock systems at the Albany County Extension Office, but she has a personal interest in disaster management after her parents calving barn burned down. When they filed an insurance claim, they discovered the calving barn was not included in the plan her grandfather had set up years ago.
“Ranchers spend time on the business plan and goals and finances, but they don’t spend time on the disaster planning,” Chichester said.
Property map
Many things are taken for granted, Chichester said, but when an emergency happens, people are not thinking clearly enough to think about all the little things that go wrong.
In her presentation, which she does around the state, Chichester talks about building a property map that can be on file with first responders.
The property map should include where fuel storage, pesticides and fertilizer is located. Chichester explained if a building that houses these things catch on fire, the first responders will have to the fight the fire differently.
Other things to consider when drawing the map is alternate roads into the property in case of the main road blocked because of blizzard conditions, Chichester said.
“These are details that may have never been shared with anyone,” Chichester said.
She has a ReadyAG© Workbook she sends home with people who attend the workshops. This allows the landowner to go through the process of developing the property map.
The ReadyAG© Workbook is a 90-page workbook that guides the landowner through a series of worksheets to help build the action plan.
The workbook is supported by Penn State Cooperative Extension and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It can be found at http://extension.psu.edu/prepare/readyag/readyag-workbook.pdf.
Extension Disaster
Education Network
Chichester also works with Emergency Management Coordinators. Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator John Zieger has participated in a program through the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN).
EDEN is a collaborative multi-state program that connects Extension professionals around the country to provide information to citizens before, during and after disasters.
In Wyoming, there are two Extension officers – Ron Cunningham, in Fremont County, and Scott Cotton, in Natrona County.
According to the EDEN website, EDEN’s mission is to share educational resources to reduce the impact of natural and man-made disasters.
EDEN does this by interdisciplinary and multi-state research and education programs addressing mitigation, preparation, response and recovery; linkage with federal state and local agencies and organizations; anticipation of future disaster education needs and actions; timely and prompt communications and delivery of information that meets audience needs; credible and reliable information.
Disaster preparedness
In disaster preparedness, Chichester is working to get landowners to start thinking about what could happen – floods, fires, blizzards – and large animal disease outbreak and how to respond.
Chichester is working with landowners to be proactive, rather than reactive.
Chichester recommends developing an emergency contact list.
With cell phones, many landowners have all their emergency numbers stored on the cell phone.
“What if the battery dies,” Chichester asked.
Chichester suggests having a hand written list to refer to in case the battery dies.
Other numbers she suggested putting on the list are the state veterinarian, in Wyoming’s case it’s Dr. Jim Logan, the highway patrol and the brand inspector.
Your insurance agent
Chichester encourages landowners to have good relationships with their insurance agent.
“You should be reviewing your plan every couple of years,” Chichester said.
The worst time to find out your calving shed is not covered, is after it burns down in the heat of calving season.
Chichester said haystacks can be covered under certain insurance plans and having that good working relationship with the insurance agent, he can keep up with what months those haystacks need to be covered.
Testing fire extinguishers is a common item that gets overlooked, Chichester said. “If you have a great year with cattle prices, that would be the time to replace all of your fire extinguishers.”
After the disaster
After the dust settles in a disaster situation, other agencies are there to help, like the University of Wyoming Extension office and the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District. After a flood, the hay needs to be tested for mold spores, or to determine if the hay is combustible. The water well needs to tested as well as the springs for domestic animals.
Blizzards, floods and fire can leave debris. This can lead to problems like stress in the livestock which needs to be monitored.
Chichester said the Farm Service Agency can provide money for livestock loss, but there must be a paper trail. The Farm Service Agency office in Saratoga is located at 101 Cypress. Sheryl Hunter works with the Indemnity Program and can be reached at 307-326-8156, ext. 2.
Taking photos of the loss is very important Chichester stressed, and today with cameras on most cell phones, it is easy to document, she said. It is also important to capture the weather data, if weather was a factor in the loss.
Chichester said the 2014 Farm Bill was instrumental in helping ranchers who had a loss beyond 20 percent of the calves.
Of course, no one can be 100 percent prepared for a disaster, but the best action is to be proactive.
Most important, Chichester said, is to improve the communication and networking. “Getting everyone on the same page to start communicating.” That is what the EDEN webpage does in offering webinars, training programs and alerting those in the ag business about the threats that exist.
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