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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - As the panhandle fires begin to die down, experts say the impact could remain for years to come.

What took generations to build is now wiped out, as the fire burned more than 1.2 million acres of grasslands. Dr. David Anderson with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service said one localized effect is the loss of ranch infrastructure. Building a fence can start at three dollars a foot.

“If there’s 5,280 feet in a mile, if you have to build a mile of fence, that’s a lot of money.” said Dr. Anderson.

Tyler Duvall with Texas Beefhouse added it could take five to ten years to bring back what was lost.

“Lord willing they’ll get all their money back for insurance on tractors and equipment and barns. But just the sheer time to rebuild all that, it’s going to take years.” said Duvall.

About 3,600 animals have died. Calf prices are already at a record high, steadily increasing in value. Dr. Anderson said, “So if we think about a value of cows, we may be talking $2,000 per animal over that whole herd.”

Experts say the individual producers will feel more of the effects rather than ripple down to Texans outside the panhandle.

According to the USDA cattle report in January, Texas has 4.1 million beef cattle. The total inventory of all cattle was at 12 million, with many of them in feed lots and dairy farms and not on ranges and pastures.

“And if we looked in the Northern panhandle across all of those counties, those are relatively small numbers compared to the whole state, and compared to the 28.2 million beef cows in the whole U.S.” said Dr. Anderson.

And some may worry when it comes to beef prices to consumers.

“But we’re not going to see the effects at the grocery store. It’s just too big agriculture to and America’s too big and from what happened in the Texas panhandle was definitely a bad thing, but it’s not going to be something that trickles down,” said Duvall.

WebXtra: Expert says impact of Panhandle wildfires could remain for years