Michigan At A Glance Relief Spreads Like Wildfire from Michigan Dairymen By Bev Berens Some left Michigan one truck at a time, others in multi-truck convoys. Their destination and goal: to deliver hay, feed, supplies and especially hope, to ranchers three and four states away who had lost everything but hope in wildfires that blasted Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado the first week of March. Thousands of cattle could not escape wind-whipped flames that consumed the plentiful dried grass intended to feed them until spring pasture. Thousands more had to be put down after the fires, from injury and suffering beyond recovery. Stacked hay, homes, barns, shops and sheds in harm’s that happened to be spared, were saved only by miracle. “There’s not a lot extra in the dairy industry today,” said Clint Marshall, Ogemaw County dairy farmer. “But we, the farmers of all kinds are the people who truly care about animals and livestock. We stepped up and did what we could. The help was badly needed down there.” His community of Ogemaw County gathered enough hay, grain, fencing supplies, and equipment to fill a combination of nineteen semi-trucks and flatbed trailers with hope. A pallet full of brand new farm boots in various sizes even showed up for the trip, delivered by men whose own shoes needed repair. Enough money was donated to cover all the fuel for each truck’s round trip, with
Smoke preceeded the fires, turning day sky to night as the fire approached the town of Knowles, OK. Ten homes in town were lost in the fires. (Shala Underwood photo.)
$5700 left. “In all, about $65,000 came out of this community in a very short time in the form of inventory, fuel and donated trucks and trailers,” said Roy Smith, co-organizer for the group and herd manager at Rosebrugh Dairy. Jock Kartes was also a co-organizer and both men recruited help from their respective farm clerical staff to track donations, arrange fuel permits, handle money and paperwork. The left-over money has been sent directly to a fence supply retailer in Oklahoma, purchas-
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ing materials for the ranches to which the group originally delivered. Smith’s idea hatched on March 19th while tending fresh cows. He and a friend would each bring a load of supplies with Smith’s father riding along for father-son time. Miller Feed collected donations for eighteen ton of calf and grower grain mixes. Miller and Smith agreed to make up any shortfall from their own pockets that donations didn’t cover. Word spread nearly as quickly as the fires did on March 6th. As supplies, truck and a driver for one truck were committed, more donations rolled in, snowballing the need for additional trucks, drivers and fuel, growing by two, five and seven trucks at a time. With each commitment of supplies, another truck and driver volunteered their services, and enough fuel money (approximately $1200 per truck) fell into place. The group left on March 31st; each tractor-trailer had two drivers and each driver and truck was committed to a regular load on Monday morning. “Whether you donate inventory or purchase supplies or fuel to go down there, the most touching thing to me was the display of unity that this community showed,” said Marshall. “A small community that is obviously going through difficult economic times themselves, they didn’t think twice. People just stepped up and did what they could; every ten-dollar donation was just as important as a thousand dollars.”