Landy Warren might be a construction operator at Atmos Energy, but cattle ranching is in his blood.
In his family, ranching goes back four generations. So, when wildfires tore through the Texas Panhandle in early March, burning nearly a half-million acres, Warren knew exactly what that devastation meant for cattle ranchers, many of whom are living on a razor’s edge, dependent on weather and grass and the markets to eke out a living.
When grass is gone, ranchers must turn to hay. But when 20 cattle can tear through a single 1,000-pound bale in a day, it’s an expensive proposition, one that has shut down many an operation.
Warren had to help. Despite never having done anything on this scale before, he started a hay-hauling operation that delivered 2,500 bales of hay, plus supplies, to more than two dozen ranches in north Texas that had lost everything except for the cows on their land. In addition, he secured another 4,000 bales of donated hay that other operations delivered for him.
Warren, who works on a ranch after he leaves his day job at Atmos, spent nights and weekends throughout March to May on the project, receiving donations from as far away as Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois. He made several 10-hour drives to bring hay up from central Texas, and he brought on Atmos Construction Operator Jason Finn and Senior Construction Operator Jacob Balusek to help, along with hundreds of other volunteers he coordinated.
“Everyone—we all work, we all have our own lives—but we were willing to help,” said Warren. “I’ve been in the cattle business all my life, so I know what it’s like. It’s hard to come back after a disaster like this … A lot of these ranchers—they took a major hit. So, we were just trying to help out any way we could.”
