Hey, Don’t forget the Hay in Disaster Recovery

In this ongoing series regarding disaster recovery in light of the recent floods in Nebraska and Iowa Rural Resurrection is trying to cover as many of the different aspects of disaster recovery as possible. There’s one aspect that we will address in this post that is a little out of the realm of thought in disaster recovery, hay.

Yes, livestock have been heavily impacted by the recent floods. It is estimated that farmers and ranchers have sustained $400 million in potential cattle losses due to the floods. But it is also the surviving cattle that have also been impacted by the lack of available hay. The floods have washed away wide swaths of vegetation in the grazing areas of the state. Mud and silt now cover many fields, limiting new growth in these fields.

To understand the impact of the lack of feed for these cattle, consider this: A cow can eat 24 pounds of hay, or more, each day. One 1,300-pound bale of hay can feed about 40 to 50 cattle per day.

Support to Those in Need

In response, an outpouring of support to the farmers of the area has been witnessed. This support took place with or without direct access due to flooded roads. According to the Omaha World Herald, in the two weeks after the floods, the Nebraska National Guard dropped 37.5 tons of hay by air and delivered 17.5 tons by ground. The efforts expanded well beyond the National Guard as convoys of trucks loaded with hay bounded towards the Nebraska border. That same OWH article mentioned assistance from as far away as Vermont, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Thank you to @OxbowAH and all the people from across the country providing hay for flood relief! #NebraskaFlood | #NebraskaStrong pic.twitter.com/kjGtG3a6hR

— Gov. Pete Ricketts (@GovRicketts) March 22, 2019

Many of those who helped had Nebraska ties. But others were “paying it forward” like Sand Springs Montana rancher Troy Witt. As noted in a Billings Gazette article, Troy had received hay sent by strangers from Montana and as far away as Oklahoma when wildfires ravaged his ranch in 2017.

Why Does This Matter to Rural Communities?

Although this is a blog mainly for rural communities, farming is the heart of most rural communities. When farmers are financially impacted, the nearby communities are impacted as well. So it is important to know where the hay drop-off/pick-up sites are and to communicate this to local farmers. For this most recent event, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture has posted such a list with additional helpful information.

Many aspects of everyday life are impacted when disaster strikes. Knowing the potential issues ahead of the event is key to fast, efficient, response that limits the negative impacts during and after a disaster.