MT Angus Association helping midwest wildfire victims

In response to the more than 2 million acres of land burned, homes, buildings and fences destroyed, and countless livestock lost or injured in the March wildland fires that spread in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, the Montana Angus Association will be donating at least $16,000 for relief efforts.

The state organization and the association’s seven regions have committed to donating $2,000 apiece, said Klint Swanson of Shipwheel Cattle Co. in Chinook, president of the north-central region.

At least eight people lost their lives in or related to the fire, including two first responders as well as a semitractor-trailer driver who died from smoke inhalation.

“Rebuilding will take years, not months, and tens of millions of dollars to rebuild herds, fence and other infrastructure these ranchers rely on for income,” Meagan Cramer, with the Kansas Farm Bureau, told Fox News.

A lot of people in the agriculture industry are frustrated by the disconnect between rural and urban areas, Swanson said, adding that national news hasn’t covered the devastation enough.

“If you eat, you are involved in agriculture,” Swanson said.

This donation is one of the ways the ag community comes together to help neighbors out, he said.

Amy Van Dyke-Crowder, executive administrator for the state association, said each region is raising money in their own way, but she thinks at least some of the money is coming from donations already made to the respective regions to be used for their operations and activities.

Van Dyke-Crowder said a fundraising auction will be held during the Midland Bull Test Sale’s Angus Banquet April 6 in Columbus at the Little Metra at 6 p.m.

Swanson said, letters requesting donations from the north-central region members will have been sent by print deadline. No fundraisers had been set in north-central Montana by print deadline, but Swanson said people can contact him if they want to donate to the relief effort for affected farmers and ranchers. He can be reached at 357-2492 or 945-4180, or people can go online to http://www.mtangus.org for other contact information.