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Contact:
Debra DeCourcy, APR
(317) 692-7873
(513) 405-5061
ddecourcy@infb.org

(Indianapolis) – March 17, 2017– Several Indiana Farm Bureau members will be loading up trailers and making the 1,600-mile trip to Kansas to deliver donated hay to ranchers who have a desperate need for feed for their livestock.

Ranchers and farmers in Kansas and other parts of the country have experienced massive devastation as wildfires, fueled by low humidity and high winds, have destroyed more than 650,000 acres of pasture and rangeland recently - killing livestock and the grazing land needed to feed the livestock that remain.

But John and Amanda Canary of Franklin have received help from several other INFB members to provide much-needed hay to farmers and ranchers in Kansas. On Friday John Canary, and fellow farmers Andy Duckworth, Johnson County Farm Bureau president, and Tyler Sneed and Justin Kaiser, also of Johnson County, will drive four trailers of hay to Ashland, Kansas, to support their fellow farmers.

“I was reading on social media about the devastation in Kansas and elsewhere and how the farmers and ranchers were struggling to feed their livestock because their pastures burned in the wildfires,” explained Canary. “I had to do something and this seems like the perfect way to help.”

The hay, more than 20 tons of it, was donated by Phil and Cindy Ramsey of Shelby County.

“I saw that John was asking for volunteers to donate hay. Cindy and I had some to spare so we thought someone could get some good out of it,” Ramsey explained.

Ashland Feed and Seed is serving as the main collection point in Kansas for all the hay being donated by farmers in Indiana and throughout the country.

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About Indiana Farm Bureau: Since 1919, Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB) has protected the livelihood, land, equipment, animals and crops of Hoosier farmers. It is the state’s largest general farm organization and a farmer’s strongest advocate. INFB works diligently to ensure a farmer’s very right to farm, because agriculture is so vital to Indiana’s economy.  Learn more at INFB.