South Dakota community rallies to aid Texas ranchers amid historic wildfires

Walworth County group commits hay to help feed cattle

The Smokehouse Creek fire burns in north Texas. (Texas A&M Forest Service)

South Dakota hay is on the way to ranchers in Texas in the path of deadly wildfires that have decimated millions of acres of Lone Star State ag land.

The north central South Dakota community of Akaska — about an hour and a half north of Pierre — has pooled together resources to send 36 bales of hay to Miami, Texas — the heart of where the Smokehouse Creek fire has ravaged the Texas panhandle.

NEWS: State investigators won't probe Noem following Texas dental video

The wildfire is the largest in the state’s history, and though it is expected to soon be contained, the road to recovery is just beginning. More than 7,000 head of cattle have died in the fire, with thousands more displaced without food or water.

That’s where other agricultural communities, like Walworth County’s, have stepped up to fill the void.