A quick update on the ranch. We have been working very hard to try and get operational. The barn, calf pens, and corral are all fully restored and operational. However some things are dependent on outside resources and we have wait in queue until it is our turn to get the resources here. To date we have had no assistance from the federal government even though it was the military that caused the fires. The county has funded some resource to help keep our roads passable. The definition for passable is that a passenger car can get through unfortunately that is insufficient for stock trailers and hay trailers.
We still as yet have not had any funding to reimburse us for the work we paid for to get the road open when the floods started in July. We are told that we may be reimbursed which would be a blessing since all that work is coming out of our life savings. We have filed three times so far because the process continues to change so we wait for a response.
We had a successful harvest date this Friday and a stock trailer of Highland steers coming on Saturday so Jim worked hard to get the road passable for the trailers. The Highland came in a 30 foot stock trailer so we were really worried but Jim's hard work and a very skilled driver and we are pleased to announce the arrival of 8 beautiful steers. Still we cannot get a hay truck through at all. Thankfully we brought hay in during June - after the fire and before the flood - and it looks like we may be able to hold out on feed until spring until hopefully we get some resources here to help. We know this will be a long road back. Again we wait for our turn.
We had hoped to be open in October for onsite visits but sadly the ranch still looks like a disaster area with dirt and rock piles, debris piled up to be moved and a temporary sifting operation set up. All the heavy equipment that we need is deployed elsewhere and we are waiting our turn for that equipment and operators We will advise when we can open again for visits. We hope we will work our way up the list before winter but at this point we are not too confident that will happen so it may be late spring before we can accept visitors again. Our priority right now is trying to get ready for what is forecast to be a very nasty cold wet winter. When the snow melts on the Pinal Mountains it will be coming directly to us. Nobody has any experience with the level of water we will likely see.
We are blessed that we did not lose any animals to the fire or floods and happy that we can do our part to support the other ranchers in the area who lost so much. Many ranchers lost their homes, grazing lands and cattle and are looking at closing down all operations. We are happy to report that we have delivered all beef promised on schedule during this whole disaster thanks to the wonderful team at Flying S Cattle Company.
