(NDSA & NDSF) – The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA) and North Dakota Stockmen’s Foundation (NDSF) distributed nearly a quarter-million dollars in aid this week to North Dakota cattle ranchers who suffered serious losses in record-breaking, back-to-back storms earlier this year. The NDSA and NDSF launched the Hope After Haley Disaster Relief Program to lend support to ranch families significantly impacted when Mother Nature delivered a multitude of perils, including severe wind and many feet of snow, rain and/or ice in April – the heart of the state’s calving season. Industry impacts ranged from widespread livestock death and illness to damaged buildings and fences.

The organizations kickstarted the disaster relief program’s fundraising effort with nearly $50,000 of their own and were joined by generous donors from North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. That grew the fund to almost $250,000. The funds were distributed in their entirety on Thursday.

Impacted producers were invited to apply for the relief or nominate another producer who could use some help. Forty-five applications, representing 24 counties and every quadrant of the state, were received and approved for assistance. The applicants had, on average, a 14 percent death loss due to the storms.

“North Dakota cattle ranchers were hard hit not only in the disastrous spring storms, but in the serious drought that preceded them,” said NDSF President Jeff Schafer, a New Rockford, N.D., cow-calf producer and feeder. “I am grateful to all those who supported our Hope After Haley Disaster Relief Program and helped re-inspire hope for these ranch families.”

Jason Leiseth, the NDSA president and an Arnegard, N.D., cow-calf producer, echoed the sentiment: “When we work together, we can accomplish incredible things, and lifting up our own in their time of need is certainly one of them.”