Photo: Kimberly Fraser
(Ogallala, NE) -- A caravan of semis loaded with hay was spotted on I-80 taking it to Western Nebraska cattle ranchers after wildfires destroyed the grassland they use for grazing.
"There were 11 semis, 30 bales on a load, so roughly 330 bales from the Columbus area to Garden County." Said Jim Donoghue, a cattle rancher in Columbus.
That's nearly 400-miles each way. He says everything was donated, the trucks, the drivers, the hay, the labor loading it, even the gas was donated.
"From Pinnacle Bank and also Citizen's Bank. I just flled my truck back up and it wsa $650 dollars, round trip." He said.
That's times eleven semi trailer rigs.
Donoghue says his group is planning another trip later this week as more hay donations come in.
Photos and videos on Nebraska social media this weekend show the long line of semis piled high with bales of hay headed west on I-80. Donoghue says he's hearing about volunter drivers from all over the state who are hauling donated hay to help.
"From the Columbus, Creston, Leigh area, the Westpoint area, Sutton, Nebraska."
His group ran in to others on the way back home.
"We stopped in Ogallala to get a rootbeer float for the road and there were three trucks there from Wolboch, Nebraska."
Donoghue says the people in Ogallala even bought them lunch and thanked them for helping.
The governor lifted vehicle weight restrictions so truckers can legally load more hay on each semi trailer than is normally allowed in Nebraska.
Donoghue lost grassland to wildfires a few years ago, and says it takes more than a year before it can be used for grazing again.
"That first year the weeds came in, but the last half of the second year we turned cattle in just for a short time, but that third year the grass was back." He said.
More than 824-thousand acres of grassland was destroyed in the wildfires, leaving 35 to 40-thousand cattle without grazing land.
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Photos by permission Kimberly Fraser and Tammi Groteluschen.
Photo: Tammi Groteluschen