Local farmers worked together to supply oat straw for a ranch devastated by the wildfires this summer.

Stan and Heidi Siewert of Prairie Rock Farms donated about 150 large square bales of oat straw to help Jennifer Jenkins of Jenkins Ranche in Waterton, AB.

Stan's brother, Rob Siewert, baled the straw, and trailers to haul the straw were provided by Kennedy Farms, Newman Farms, Harvey and Committee Schmitke, and Southland International.

Gerald Dijkstra of Circle D Farms Inc., along with Prairie Rock Farms and Middleton Grain, trucked the straw to Jenkins a couple of weeks ago.

Dijkstra says, entering the driveway of the ranch was like driving through a war zone.

"It literally hit her head on. It went through all of her pastures, and I think it burned up three or four houses on the property. She got completely wiped out, so she was incredibly grateful for the help."

The aftermath of the wildfires this Summer at the Jenkins Ranche. Photo courtesy of Gerald Dijkstra.

He says, it wasn't hard to find volunteers to help out with the baling and delivery of the oat straw, but finding a recipient was a bit more challenging.

"Ranchers are kind of a funny bunch. Farmers in general I guess have a hard time accepting any kind of charity. And on the flip side, farmers are actually super generous, and always wanting to donate. So when we actually looked for a recipient for the straw, we actually had a hard time."

Dean Siewert and Phil Rowland played a big role in coordinating someone to accept the donation.

Dijkstra says, wildfires are one of those things which can happen to anyone.

"I think that's what really got us on edge is it could've been us, it could've been anybody at anytime, so we were fortunate enough not to get hit, so what can we do to help out?"

Jenkins told to the group of farmers who delivered the straw, only three days after the fire, about 300 hundred volunteers in the community showed up to start putting fences back up, which really drew the community together.

He says, Jenkins has also had some of her neighbors offer winter pastures, and drop off hay.

Photo Courtesy of Gerald Dijkstra.

 

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