Send a Prayer

  As I put pen to paper fingers to keypad this AM, I am of mixed emotion.  I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about the storm Atlas and what havoc it wrecked upon my fellow ranchers and farmers.  I feel that the lack of media shows a true picture of what our country has become and the focus that it has lost.  I can not imagine what it must be like to be searching thru what snowbanks are left for the rest of your missing cows, sheep, horses or what it is that you are missing.  We took a drive up to Spearfish for our chiropractor appointment on Tuesday and seen firsthand cattle tangled up the fence-lines or where they dropped from exhaustion and it was literally gut wrenching.  I pray daily for those ranchers and their livelihoods.
   
  I am thankful that we were on the edge of Atlas and received some rain and then 3 inches of wet snow.  All of our livestock made it thru just fine.   The last numbers that I was hearing was well over 60,000 head of cattle in the just South Dakota alone.  Devastation is one term that comes to mind.  I fear for the ranchers that won't be able to continue on with their livelihoods, bring an end to tradition in their family or operation.

   I think that it is important to try to educate as many fellow Americans as possible about the impact that Agriculture has on this great country, especially in a time like this.  Due to social media influencing, it's important not to believe all that you read online!  Pictures get Photoshop and captions get changed.  Let's try to help keep fact and fiction separate, keep positive thoughts heading to the Heartland of America.   If you can't send a donation or help out in the recovery effort, at the very least - send a prayer.