The fires, coupled with a drought that affected large portions of the state, has upset the cattle industry to the extent that the effects were felt in the cattle markets in South Dakota.
Not all of that increased influx of cattle can be attributed to the fires and drought in Montana. The 2017 High Plains drought affected livestock producers in the Dakotas as well, where ranchers have also been selling cow-calf pairs as pastures dried up and stocks of hay became depleted.
Sale barns have been seeing higher than normal sale of cows.
“We sell a lot of cattle out of Montana,” said Tupper.
“There’s no question that they lost a lot of summer grazing,” said Tupper.
“The drought and the fires have put pressure on prices for cows,” said Tupper.
According to Tupper, prices for calves are about 20 percent higher this year, which computes to a price increase of about $60 to $80 a head.
When cattle go to market early, the markets react by putting pressure on the price.

Malnutrition rates are among the highest in the country.
Long dry spells and occasional droughts have always been part of the rhythm of pastoralism here, but Turkana, like much of east Africa, is currently nine months into one of severest droughts in living memory.
In February, when 23 of the country’s 47 counties were affected, and after the number of food insecure people had more than doubled, from 1.3 million to 2.7 million, the Kenyan government declared a national drought emergency.
This is largely a result of higher food prices and a reduction in milk and food supplies.
Livestock also represents a considerable store of wealth: Many herders with few other possessions aside from a wooden stool, a knife, and some cooking utensils own 100 or more goats and sheep, each worth around $60.
When it rains, the grass grows and the goats graze.
As a 2014 paper on pastoralism and climate change adaptation in northern Kenya explains, pastoralists are especially exposed to climate change because in east Africa it manifests itself in “increasing temperatures and higher rainfall variability… with both escalating the likelihood of more frequent and extended droughts.” According to a 2007 study by the International Panel on Climate Change, Kenya is warming at a rate roughly 1.5 times the global average.
The paper’s authors add that Kenyan pastoralists are particularly “sensitive” because their livestock “depends on the availability of water and pasture which is negatively affected by climate change”.

Based on historic weather patterns, the Midwestern United States can expect the drought of the century around 2025, according to Elwynn Taylor, a climatologist for Iowa State University Extension, Ames.
Taylor spoke Wednesday in Moline at the 10th annual Upper Mississippi River Conference hosted by River Action Inc., a Davenport-based environmental organization.
While the Earth’s climate is changing, some weather cycles recorded by actual data or discerned by studying tree rings is remarkably consistent, Taylor said.
This happened in 1847, 1936 and will likely happen again around 2025, he said.
Taylor spoke in a session that also included a talk about the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico — where we stand and how we’re doing.
The zone is caused by algal blooms that consume oxygen.
These basins are "musts," she said.
• Private entities are helping to push change and innovation, and Smith sees great potential in this.
"Farmers will listen to their fertilizer man," Smith said.

CHEMORA, Algeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Squinting under a relentless sun, Houssin Ghodbane watches his son tend a flock of 120 of their sheep.
Fifty-year-old Ghodbane, his tanned face etched with deep lines, has been herding sheep for 20 years, having inherited the job and land from his father. But in this dry region, worsening cycles of drought are posing new challenges to an old profession.
The country is also facing higher temperatures.
“Drought stops everything,” he said.
Algeria’s government has tried to help herders, including by providing limited subsidies to offset some of their increasing costs for water and feed.
Ghodbane, who was born on the land he now farms, says the seasons are changing, with longer summers interfering with the spring and fall rains that are crucial to strong harvests and herding years.
After graduating from high school, he followed in his father’s footsteps and has worked on the farm full time for the past five years, herding animals from six in the morning to eight in the evening.

The North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner said the funding from this wouldn’t have made a difference for local farmers and ranchers struggling as a result of the drought.
Wade Staigle has over 400 cattle at his ranch and when the drought came around, it was hard for him not to worry.
"We only received just about two inches of rain here from the first of march to the first of august so at that time it put us in a situation here where we didn’t know exactly what we were going to have to do or where we would have to go with the cattle," said farm and ranch owner, Wade Staigle.
This summer North Dakota’s Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring lobbied for funding through the presidential major disaster declaration FEMA denied it.
"Nobody knew exactly what was going to be coming down the pipeline from the federal government," said Staigle.
"It wasn’t going to do any good for agriculture," said Goehring. "There were some people out there pushing for presidential disaster. Pushing the governor for presidential disaster; thinking that there would be some relief for farmers and ranchers.
Goehring says many have already filed for assistance through other agencies and others like Wade say that in a circumstance like this preparation is key.

With that said, one silver lining of a rough 2017 has been the general retreat of drought on a national scale.
However, with that said, since then, a severe drought emerged quickly in the Northern Plains this summer.
While there was plenty of yellow—abnormally dry conditions—spread over the map, less than 10% of the country was experiencing full-blown drought of some kind.
We get a lot of questions about the connection between events like this and the larger climate, and climate change in particular.
Did you know that we’re in one of the droughtiest eras of modern US climate history?
[Drought coverage, shown as percent area of the contiguous United States and calculated using the Palmer Drought Severity Index, since 1900.
Some key distinctions between the recent drought era and the two 20th-century eras are: the 21st-century drought era has lasted longer than the other two; the 21st-century drought era has been somewhat more western than the other two, and the 21st century drought has been “wetter” than the other two.
This 21st-century drought era has been wetter in the sense that the temporary interruptions have been much stronger.
And yet, despite the whopper wet punches, the overall pattern has returned, so far, to large-scale drought, affecting large parts of the country.
Drought contributed to an extremely active fire season in the state in summer and fall 2017.

Totals are impressive and will go a ways in easing our drought.
We’re on our way to a couple of seasonably cool days. However with gusty NE winds today and lesser east winds tomorrow-we’ll still have a cool feeling airmass. Clouds are in no hurry to exit and will be stubborn for today and much of tomorrow. Lingering mist and some drizzly periods off and on through Thursday as well.
Get you outdoor time in then when weather is good. We’re looking at another dynamic system for your weekend. Many spots could see another 1-2" of rain.
Can you believe we’re less than three weeks from Halloween?

A century of fire suppression followed by the worst drought in recorded history has put California’s forest landscapes and water supply at risk.
Berkeley, is the author of a new report by the Public Policy Institute of California that recommends some changes in state law and a shift in public attitude when it comes to how California handles its drought-induced tree mortality.
But what I would say is, the statistics we’ve seen from a number of good scientists have put the number of additional acres that need to be treated at somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000 per year.
Water Deeply: There’s also a need for more mechanical thinning, or logging.
Often, when the Forest Service or private landowners say they’re doing mechanical thinning, certain environmental groups think that’s code for clearcutting.
People are still very worried about these trees because they’ve seen in the past some large trees disappear.
But we can manage it with prescribed fire and know when the fire is going to happen and know that in the future, we’ll have less risk of severe wildfire.
Prescribed fire and managed wildfire are both costly.
Butsic: There is a number of barriers that we’ve identified to getting the work done. If you’re going to do big prescribed fires or let wildfires be managed, there’s risk to the leadership that things could go wrong.

BRUSSELS — Hail, frost and droughts have hit Europe’s grape harvest hard, making it the smallest in 36 years.
The European Union’s Copa-Cogeca farm union said Tuesday that the extreme weather means the harvest is expected to be down 14 percent, with some areas seeing a drop of as much as one third. That will cut wine production to a level not seen since 1981 at 145 million hectoliters.
The two biggest producers, "France and Italy were particularly badly affected," said Thierry Coste, the chairman of Copa-Cogeca wine division.
In France, production will be down 18 percent, and in Italy, the biggest wine producer in Europe, it will have sunk by 26 percent compared with last year.
"The quality of the grape is nevertheless expected to be very good across Europe, which should make for an excellent wine," he said.
During the 1980s, record wine production often hovered around the 210 million hectoliter mark. Extreme weather and climate change have further affected output in certain years.
Nowadays, wine production almost never surpasses 170 million hectares a year anymore, although this year’s estimate is particularly low, and was last worse only in 1981.
In the U.S., meanwhile, northern California’s wildfires have destroyed at least two wineries and damaged many others.

A statement from the AU mission handed over 67 metric tonnes comprising rice, sugar, beans and vegetable oil to the government officials.
"Whereas this condition (drought) has had some slight differences, the humanitarian plight in Somalia still requires continued and stepped-up support," Madeira said.
"During the Commission Chairperson’s announcement of donation 100,000 dollars by the AU to assist the victims of the drought, he expressed his wish that others should emulate the gesture and this is a demonstration of the seriousness with which the AU views the humanitarian challenge in Somalia," he added.
During his visit to Somalia in March, Mahamat pledged humanitarian aid to drought victims, after an international appeal for emergency assistance by Somalia government.
The appeal saw an unprecedented response by the Somali people and the international community, raising a total of 1.1 billion dollars, which helped avert famine.
Madeira reiterated the commitment of AMISOM to continue supporting the Somali government and the humanitarian agencies to access and support populations in need of assistance.
Some 6.2 million people across Somalia face acute food insecurity, according to UN.
Mohamed Moalim, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, said the international community has done a tremendous job of providing much needed emergency supplies to the people of Somalia.
"Somali people together with our partners this time round have been more prepared and coordinated well.