Superior Ag Community Supports Texas Panhandle Livestock Producers

This past March, the Texas panhandle fought devastating fires in rural areas, resulting in more than 1.2 million acres being burned. As the largest wildfire in Texas history, it projected a total loss of $123 million, with more than 15,000 estimated cattle deaths. In response, Superior Ag committed to donating relief resources to support farmers and ranchers that were affected by this tragic event.

“The Texas panhandle wildfires were just another painful disaster to hit the ranching community in western Texas on top of the severe drought they have endured for three plus years now,” said Jordan L. O’Neill, Ph.D. “This was a great opportunity for the Superior Ag community to support other farmers and ranchers in need. It also touches my heart closely – not only because I know ranchers suffering from this disaster and I am very aware of the impact one location (west Texas) and sector of the agriculture industry impacts another location (southern Indiana) within agriculture, but primarily because I have been in those Texas producers’ shoes when my family’s cattle, hay production, and commercial swine farm operations were almost completely wiped out in the fall of 2018 by flooding due to Hurricane Florence. In those moments, producers being stricken by the natural disaster feel overwhelmed and powerless on how to save their livestock and livelihoods to move forward. Simple donations such as hay, feed, and fencing supplies go a long way to spark some hope in these victims and shine a light on a path forward to recovery. I knew if it made a difference to me and my family then, that the Superior Ag community’s support and donations will make an impactful difference for those farming and ranching families enduring this recent natural disaster. I am extremely thankful to all that chipped in, whether it was donations or physical assistance to pull this major donation effort off!”



Donations were accepted from March 11-23rd at the Superior Ag Feed Store. Thanks to the generous support of local farmers and industry partners, Superior Ag was able to collect and ship four loads of donated feed, hay and other supplies to Canadian, TX throughout the months of April and May. Members generously donated 67 round bales, 6 square bales, 6 tons of feed, and fencing equipment. There were dilemmas with freight timing and some round bales being too large to haul efficiently, but eventually with financial and logistic support from Superior Ag, Reed Sanders of JST, LLC Trucking (Halls, TN), and Dan Looney of Total Quality Logistics, the donated supplies were safely delivered to Canadian, TX.



Superior Ag would like to thank Ben Duttlinger, Benjamin Metsker, Doug Smith, Randy Begle, Wayne Lueken, Chad Seifert, Todd Travis, and many anonymous donors for their donation of both square bales and round bales. They would also like to thank Dubois County Cattlemen’s Association for fencing, Chris Muegge for his feed donation, as well as Reed Sanders with JST, LLC Trucking and Dan Looney with Total Quality Logistics for their support in transportation of the supplies. Lastly, Superior Ag would like to thank Jordan O’ Neill for leading this project, as well as the livestock nutrition team for helping load the resources and making this project possible.