2
Hi-Line
December 2013
FARM & RANCH
www.havredailynews.com Pam Burke community@havredailynews.com
Courtesy photo Volunteer Tom Brown herds cows Nov. 22 down a lane between pens at JS Livestock south of Havre. The cows were donated to Montana Ranchers Paying It Forward to be distributed to South Dakota ranchers whose herds were decimated by an early winter storm Oct. 3-5.
After two women from ranches south of Chinook heard about the devastation in parts of western South Dakota from winter storm Atlas, and saw the photos of decimated cattle herds on the news and through social media, they knew they had to do something. Rene Brown, whose husband, Tom, is the ranch foreman for the Diamond Bar, and Alisha Burcham, who teaches and, along with her husband, Syler, co-owns the Birdtail Ranch, discussed ways that they could help ranchers whose cattle herds saw up to 80 percent loss from the Oct. 3-5 storm. They decided to appeal to local cattle producers to get a semitrailer load of cows and heifers to distribute to South Dakota ranchers in need. “I just kept thinking ‘there but for the grace of God go I,’” said Rene Brown. “You know, really, if that part of the storm had hit 12 hours earlier and a little north, it would've been us. “I'd like to think someone would be there for us,” she added. Alisha Burcham said that, after reading about the storm and seeing the photos, she pondered for many hours what she could do to help. “I really sympathized with the people, and even the animals,” she said. She also worried about how to fit a humanitarian project like this into her busy life, she said, with a full-time job, a baby and the ranch work.
11
Hi-Line
December 2013
To get the cattle to South Dakota and distributed to recipients with some coordination, Linger had volunteers from the 31 collection sites haul all their cattle in to Belle Fourche the same week. The north-central Montana cattle left Havre at about 11 a.m. with Earl Brown, Jestin Brown and Burcham, and arrived at the stockyard in Belle Fourche at 11 p.m. Linger said the committee which made the final decision on distribution of donated cattle to recipients had decided at the beginning of the process to concentrate their efforts primarily on assisting younger ranchers. Those producers generally don’t have reserves built up to absorb this kind of tragedy, he said, or the equity or credit history to get more, bigger or extended loans to help them get operating again as quickly as possible.
The drive to help While Brown and Burcham say that the photos, news stories and personal accounts of the devastation from winter storm Atlas prompted them to start their donation organization effort, they both admit that they were unsure at the beginning if they would get a trailer load, also c a l l e d a p o t l o a d, o f b re e d i n g s to c k donated, especially with the value of cattle on the market this year. Brown said that she had a bit of a personal challenge to get to 40 head of cattle after her brother-in-law Earl Brown told her she wouldn't be able to get people in the area to donate that many cattle. “I said, then, ‘so if I get a pot load will you haul them for the price of gas?’ And he agreed,” Brown said. “So now he’s stuck.” With the joking aside, Brown said that she had been planning to ask him to donate his time and truck to haul anyway, and she was sure he would’ve said yes anyway. That, she added, seems to be the spirit of generosity they have found among the north-central cattle producers. Farmer and rancher Joe Ostrom from the Big Sandy area was one of the contacts with whom Burcham shared the Paying It Forward Facebook page. Ostrom, who also volunteered to work and load the cattle the day they were shipped, said he saw the information shared on the page “and I read into it a little bit and me and my wife sat down and we talked about it and how it was such a loss and everything, and the next day I decided the first calf that I ever had could go to South Dakota to help some-
FARM & RANCH The things people say “Just shy of $1.25 million of animals and services were donated over the weekend” — Ty Linger, Miles City, donated a bred cow and was lead organizer for Heifers for South Dakota. “We saw the pictures on the Northern Ag Network website of all the dead cattle. It could’ve just as easily been us as it was them" — Dustin and Vicki Hofeldt, Cleveland area, donated two bred cows. “Oh, I just seen that stuff on TV and I felt so bad I felt like I needed to do this” — Teddy Faber, south of Chinook, donated two bred heifers. “ ... Because maybe someday I’ll need a favor returned or someone else will need one. I like that, paying it forward” — Jim Heavey, north of Havre, donated a heifer and a cow. “It’s been incredible to see the generosity of people, strangers and neighbors” — Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association. body.” That first calf is a heifer bred for an early spring calf. “I hope that it helps to get these guys back on their feet. I know it would suck if it happened to me,” he said. Brown and Burcham expressed a similar mix of compassion for fellow cattle producers and frank understanding that it could've been them just as much in need. “I just couldn’t turn away and not help in some way,” said Brown. “It was was worth the trouble — because it's a hard thing to do, to set my heart toward something like this," Burcham said of the work to coordinate the donation effort. “Some people fight for veterans or fight for cancer or other sorts of good deeds, but I’ve never had a strong desire to do that until now. I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn’t try and do something to help — that was my main drive in doing that.” Donations are still being accepted. Contact Ty Linger on Facebook at Heifers for South Dakota, at his website HelpforSouthDakota.com, or by calling 406351-3716.
www.havredailynews.com
Some of the stories Ty Linger, organizer of Heifers for South Dakota, shared some of the stories associated with this donation effort: • A teenage girl in Laramie, Wyo., donated her heifer that she had raised, trained and competed in FFA show classes. • One young man with a herd of 11 cows whose offspring would help him pay for college then be the seed for his ranching career after graduation lost 10 of the 11 cows. The few head he got would help keep him going. • One family who had just built their herd to 207 head, the number they needed for a viable business, lost 102 head. They received 20 head. This donation provided the collateral to allow the bank to justify a loan for more cows. • Some people have given up on their ranches, several people have said that without help they will lose their place and one suicide is directly attributed to the extreme storm-related losses. “For a lot of these folks, it’s still pretty grim. We’re thankful for the ones that we can get help to now, and weep for the ones we can’t,” Linger said.