Connection to cattle goes beyond money
By Peter Harriman;
The first calf arrived this week.
It's the leading edge of a torrent of bawling black and white babies John Hemmer expects will keep him and three helpers on the go until April on his farm north of Flandreau.
"The first corn plant comes out of the ground, OK, that's fine. I told the kids we had the first baby calf and they dang near ran out of the tub wanting to see that baby calf. They were ecstatic about it," he says.
Hemmer, 31, is the fourth generation of his family to farm in Moody County, and there is livestock all through the lineage. "We've always had livestock. Grandpa was big in livestock." This year, he's calving 250 black Angus and Angus-Hereford cross Black Baldy heifers and cows, and that's after downsizing from a herd of 550 a year ago.
So Hemmer has experience to see this enterprise from all sides, including the tragic, and losing cattle hurts.
"The loss of cattle isn't 'I lost money today.' It's the loss of life. Words can't really explain how you feel. You're disappointed in yourself. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. But you are in charge of that animal to take care of it. You lose something like that, you feel like you failed. That's the worst thing a rancher can feel. You let yourself down and the livestock down."
Versions of his sentiment resonated among empathetic farmers and ranchers throughout the country and beyond following the devastating blizzard that killed tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses West River last October.
Money will help make ranchers who lost half their herds and more financially whole, and it has come abundantly from the people who donated more than $4 million to the Rancher Relief Fund, and now from the federal government that included retroactive livestock disaster payments in the new farm bill Congress passed.
But to heal a more fundamental hurt requires a different remedy. "Hope with the hide on" is a slogan that has become associated with the Heifers for South Dakota project. Ty Linger of Miles City, Mont., and Shane Labrier of Spearfish, started the project even as West River ranchers still were desperately searching for herds scattered by the storm and carrying out the woeful task of removing blizzard-killed cattle and calves from pastures.
To date, almost 1,000 bred cattle donated by farmers and ranchers around the country and purchased by monetary contributions have been given to about 90 ranchers. An additional 180 weaned heifer calves are being fed through the winter in Spearfish. They'll be artificially inseminated and given to ranchers in late May or early June. There is no hard-and-fast formula for who gets what, but the gifts generally range from four to 20 head, according to Labrier.
And cattle donations keep coming, he says. A truckload of 40 Angus heifers from Virginia is on the way. The farmer who organized the effort there reported temperatures have been a zesty 0 to 15 degrees for the past three weeks.
"If ever there is a time to acclimate those cattle to South Dakota, it's right now," Labrier says.
The donations have had a profound effect already. With their herds as their primary asset, ranchers who suffered significant losses were in danger of losing financing and being driven out of ranching.
"Four or five young families said the bank told them, 'We'll stay with you now that you have these cattle,' " Labrier says. "If we're able to help them from having to change addresses, this has been well worth it."
For everyone who received cattle, the promising sight of them standing in pastures is an incalculable boost to the spirit.
"People have been calling me. They say, 'Every time I go out now to look at the cattle, the first thing I see is those Heifers for South Dakota heifers.' It's the promise and hope it gives people every day to go out and do the chores and feed," Labrier says.
Flandreau area farmer Craig Severtson got the ball rolling to send a load of Moody County cattle to Heifers for South Dakota. Hemmer and his wife, Jamie, who are neighbors of Severtson, looked over their herd and decided to give a pair of especially nice young cows.
"We chose one black one and one black one with a white face," Hemmer says.
"If you're trying to rebuild, you want the better ones in the herd. You want the best."
Working with livestock shapes a person, and in a good way, he says.
"On a bad day, a grain farmer goes inside. On a bad day, you still have to tend livestock."
Being attentive to the needs of animals that live in the present without regrets or anxious anticipation also makes people better.
"West River, I love it. The people out there are different from anywhere else," Hemmer says.
"You can just tell the lifestyle is different. It's slowed down, in general. If you have livestock, that's what you deal with every single day. That's what they do solely, and it reflects in their personality. We could all learn a lot if we had cattle and met folks from West River.
"My wife comes from a farm that did not really have any livestock," he adds. "She didn't understand this. We've been married seven years, and now she wouldn't give up the cows. In some way, shape or form we're always going to have cows on the farm."
Where this connection between ranchers and cattle was broken by the blizzard, the Hemmers hope in part to mend it with their donation to Heifers for South Dakota.
"That's what hit us hardest about the storm that took all those cattle," he says, "knowing those ranch families feel the same way about their livestock as we do. To put a cow back makes us feel real good, and hopefully it makes them feel the same way."
There is an immediate aspect to the generosity embodied by Heifers for South Dakota, and there will be an enduring one. In the near term, there will be calves on the prairie this spring where there were carcasses last fall.
"You know, what's amazing about a baby calf, if they're taken care of right off the bat, in two days time the little buggers can be put outside in the freezing cold, and they'll be running, bucking and kicking. It's just amazing. It's fun to see," Hemmer says.
During the next decade or so, a pair of young cows donated this year could have a half-dozen heifer calves apiece. That will help rebuild a herd. A rancher who received a gift such as Hemmer's will be able to look out over a pasture at a bunch of animals and note, "Ah, there's those Moody County cattle."
"And they will have a story about it," Hemmer says. It's a story that will become part of West River history. Whenever it's told it will be a lesson about hope, and recovery, and about generous people acting at their best.
Reporter Peter Harriman writes a column each Saturday about interesting people, places and things. If you have a story idea for him, call 575-3615 or email pharrima@argusleader.com.