HARNEY COUNTY, Ore. — Katie Baltzor and her husband moved their cattle off mountain range weeks earlier than usual this summer after large wildfires burned pasture in southeastern Oregon. Now, with drought having left their hay meadows short and diesel prices still near record highs, the couple faces a costly winter and uncertainty about next year’s feed supply. The Baltzors brought their herd home in the third week of July, rather than the second week of September, when the cattle would normally leave the mountain range. Baltzor and hired riders went into smoke-filled areas to bring the animals out of the fires’ path. Burned grazing land can take years to recover, she said, and some allotments may be closed to grazing for a couple of years. The damage affects ranchers beyond the Baltzors: “Because so many acres burned in Harney County, it’s not just my husband and myself that have this issue,” she said. Drought compounded the problem by limiting irrigation water and drying out hay meadows. Some fields yielded a small crop; others received too little water to cut hay at all. With less forage available, ranchers must weigh how much feed they can put up themselves and whether they will need to buy more. Harvesting hay requires repeated tractor work to cut, dry and bale the crop. Baltzor said filling a tractor with diesel now costs about $300. The expense helped shape the couple’s decision to rake hay into piles in the field, a method called rakebunching that requires fewer tractor passes. It can help feed cattle in late summer and fall, but leaves less stored hay for later. “The bigger problem becomes next year,” Baltzor said. If precipitation does not return, limited irrigation could leave the couple short again. Purchased hay may have to be brought in by truck, adding transportation costs and more fuel use. “Fuel costs, parts costs, everything has gone up,” Baltzor said. Calf prices have risen, too, but she said they have not kept pace with inflation, squeezing ranchers already paying more to operate. High beef prices at grocery stores do not translate into immediate relief for cattle producers. Baltzor said ranchers often keep female calves, or heifers, to build their herds and replace older cows. A heifer may take about two years to produce a calf, making herd growth a long-term investment rather than a quick source of income. The couple has switched to gasoline pickups to limit diesel use. Baltzor said their ranch remains financially viable in part because they worked to avoid debt, but not every operation has that flexibility. Loan payments on land, cattle and vehicles can leave ranchers with less room to absorb higher costs. Baltzor said she and her husband spent years working outside jobs as they built their herd and acquired land. “Nobody gave it to us,” she said. “We had to find places to rent, and we had to buy cattle. And we had to take out loans to do all of that.” For ranchers across the region, the immediate challenge is getting through winter with the feed available. The longer-term question is whether rain and snow return in time to restore pasture and irrigation supplies before another growing season.