Broken Dreams and Hearts On the Western Dakota Prairie

I share this post with a heavy heart for my community.

Many that read my blog are from across the country and globe.

I am grateful for your friendship and support.

I share this to share the story of the hearty people of the prairie 

that need prayers and compassion right now.

I am grateful to live where I do

with my family, my friends, my neighbors.

Neighbors in our country live 5-10-50-100 miles away.

Our community has never seen this.

Never a blizzard with such devastation.

Never so early in the season.

Ranching families across the prairie

are experiencing the trauma and loss like never before.

The loss of livestock is shocking to the core.

Our hearts are raw.

Driving the roads with ditches filled with dead cattle

leaves us in tears with deep, deep heart ache.

The sight alone is truly gruesome and traumatizing.

Airplanes are flying over to find those dead and those alive

because people simply cannot travel through the oceans of drifts.

People have to document the losses for proof.

Taking photos of dead livestock is painful.

There is financial loss, yes.

But much deeper than that . . . 

Cows and calves have died.

Most of the cows were pregnant with baby calves inside.

That is three generations.  Gone.

Many of the cows on a ranch have been raised right there by families,

and so was that cow's mother, and her mother. 

The "grandma-cows" go back generations.

You don't just simply go "buy new cows" and start over.

The foundation is removed.

The legacy.  The years.  The work.  The love. The faith.

It takes years of work and faith to grow a herd . . . to raise healthy, quality cattle.

It takes decades.

Spring will be missing the bawling of many baby calves and the gentle moo of their mamas.

Our lifestyle is not simply economical,

although that aspect is huge.

Everyone who has lost jobs and is working through debt

on a wing and a prayer,

knows the mental and spiritual and emotional struggle.

It does not matter what business you are in,

hard economic times are hard times on families deep within your heart.

As electric power starts to return bit by bit,

we start sticking our heads out and communicating with the rest of the world again.

We look for bits of hope.

The news of a family who has found live cattle

brings rejoicing.

Freeing live tree branches from snow banks 

to reach toward the sky again,

feels life-giving.

Finding life.

Clinging to each other.

Texting because we don't have good cell service to hear a voice

becomes life-giving connections to loved ones.

Yesterday, as I saw live cattle,

I wanted to wrap my arms around their neck and kiss their faces.

I have never felt that before.

We pray for each other.

Talk through it.

Text through it.

Can't wait to see each others faces

and feel arms of love wrapped around each other.

For now, distance separates us,

but love for each other and our lifestyle

bonds us together.

A sister-ranching-friend of mine sent me this verse via facebook

which I am just now receiving as my electricity returned.

I pass it on to you.

It describes the one hope that we can continue to cling to always

because everything we hold in this world can be lost.

Though the fig tree do not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like deers’ feet,

he makes me tread upon my high places.

Habbakuk 3:17-19

May we grasp for God to give us hope and life and strength and each other

through this time.

Sending love and prayers

to my community.

*

If you want to know more and have questions,

here are a few more articles and posts by Tri-State Livestock News:

Storm Atlas takes its toll,

perseverance will remain

and from Dawn Wink:

The Blizzard that Never Was – and its Aftermath on Cattle and Ranchers 

and from Rapid City Journal:

Tens of Thousands of Cattle Killed In Friday's Blizzard

South Dakota Stockgrowers and SD Cattlemen and SD Sheepgrowers have all 

came together

along with the Black Hills Area Community Foundation have established the 


SD Rancher Relief Fund.  

You can find it on FB and the website is 

https://www.giveblackhills.org/27677

*

Here is my post on how we are doing in the aftermath:
Moving Forward With Character & Hope

Communication helps. 

Every word of encouragement to people helps. 

I have always felt like leaving a message 

on facebook or a blog comment was so insignificant, 

but it is not. 

To finally return to electricity 

and turn on the computer and have my inboxes filled 

with encouraging comments of love and prayers is so, so helpful. 

But also to see that there is nothing reported on the national news is disheartening. 

I know we are private people here in our area 
and it is a raw and tender place to tread with reporting, 
but I believe in telling the story.  

As we share our stories, compassion is built elsewhere and kindness is shown.

Thank you so, so much for kind words! 

We have been fortunate, 

but so many in our community have not.

Please continue to pray and extend compassion 

to our ranching community here in Western SD who have lost so much. 

Every encouraging word helps.  

Share in the comments and I will pass them along.  Thank you.