Posted on 04/08/2019 2:10:53 PM PDT by Norski
PLEASANTON, Neb. (KHGI) - Battered by life’s storms, ranchers find relief. Ohioans bring hay to Nebraska shows that in rural America, even those 800 miles away can be neighbors.
It’s been a rough season for young cattle producers.
“It's just, it's hard. It's hard to come back from this,” said Bailey Dittmar, a high school senior from Amherst who raises cattle with her family.
Experienced ranchers like Ken Huryta of Ravenna have never seen flooding like this, that required him to wade out and save calves, while using a horse to coax cattle to jump a ditch to get to dry ground.
“It came up so fast and pretty much isolated my herd. We waded in and got some of the baby calves out and put in the trailer and into warm facilities,” he said.
"Heidi Reissland said her family lost more calves than they ever care to lose, and that came in the blizzard before the flooding.
“It has been the roughest calving season we've ever had and we don't ever want another one like it,” she said.
As she cradled her three-year-old son Chance, farm families across Nebraska feel like they’ve been through the ringer.
“Everybody is exhausted,” Reissland said, of a calving season that took a lot of ranchers.
Many lost cattle to extreme cold and flooding, and surviving livestock is in rough shape.
“They're just so weak, a lot of them are so stressed out,” Ken Huryta said. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nebraska.tv ...
“Just really good friends of the wife and I,” Nate Like said.
Heidi Riessland said Luck asked what they needed, and she knew they could serve as a hub to distribute hay.
It started with two guys, which quickly turned to five then 25.
“So it's just been an outpouring of support and we're gracious to do what we can being fellow farmers and cattlemen,” Like said.
They loaded up at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Northwest Ohio. 873 miles later, the convoy arrived in central Nebraska.
It wasn't an easy trip, blowing plenty of tires along the way, something they anticipated, with some guys serving as mechanics for the trip.
“I think they'd be pretty good NASCAR pit men, so they did a very nice job,” Like said.
Along the way strangers donated for food and fuel, something like said was very humbling.
Every bale collected in Ohio goes to a Nebraska farmer in need.
“A lot of them don't want to admit” they need help, Heidi Riessland told one of the Ohioans.
They’re assisting folks who are not used to accepting help.
For storm battered ranchers, a convoy of 24 trucks from Ohio provided a reprieve.
“Everybody needed a break at this point, and just to get everybody together to enjoy some happiness that's happened,” Riessland said.
Separated by hundreds of miles, they feel like neighbors.
Nate Like said, “Farmers helping farmers, we don't care if you live a mile down the road or 2,000 miles across the U.S., we're here to help each other, support anyone we can in any way we can.”
Those receiving hay say the time will come when they can pay it forward.
“Feel super blessed. I'll tell you for sure,” Ken Huryta said. “I just hope someday I can return the favor. I'm going to look for that.”
Their nearly 800 mile journey came with police escorts, and a party at the Riessland’s farm in Pleasanton, where hay was unloaded from trailers with #NebraskaStrong banners.
Dittmar said, “Nebraska really is strong. We can get through this. We’ve got this.”
Americans helping Americans. Too bad Congress can’t learn form this example.
It was really amazing watching the convoy coming into our state to help us.
Thank you to everyone involved.
It’s really a mess here!
Yes. I hope to post on this subject soon. Thank you.
Do you have an opinion upon this?
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-12-24/right-repair-movement-wants-you-be-able-fix-your-own-stuff
I was in the flood area last week and saw Army transport helicopters taking hay to stranded cattle. Incredible devastation near the rivers, buildings looked more like they’d been hit by a tornado.
We in Nebraska have a great deal of gratitude for the assistance being sent or brought in from other areas.
It is humbling to think that complete strangers can be so kind, and not just by giving $10 to Red Cross or whatever.
This is a person in McCook, Nebraska, KA “Mr. Bill”. He speaks very plainly upon subjects such as this:
“2,019 Nebraska’s Perfect Storm” (3:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIddfVHTLKM
I believe this subject to be underreported.
It is enlightened self-interest.
One hopes that the infrastructure is not too badly damaged.
No kidding!!!! I haven’t heard anything about the problems in Nebraska for a week or two...The national media hasn’t said hardly anyhting....
Here’s probably the reason:
Donald Trump won the election in Nebraska with 58.7% of the vote. Hillary Clinton received 33.7% of the vote.
About 10 yrs ago we were in a terrible drought here
in Tn.Feeding hay in July.Texas hay shipped in here saved
a couple of our herds from the stockyard.
Learned what a Sand Burr is.
My heart goes out to the people that have lost so much to
that terrible flood.I don`t know if I could have took seeing
that happen to my farm.
God Bless ya`ll
God bless the American farmer.
They are absolutely the best.
Americans helping Americans. Too bad Congress can’t learn form this example.
That’s the America I love.......thanks guys and gals for showing us all how decent human beings act.....;)
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