BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has announced the availability of a program that will reimburse eligible producers for a portion of feed transportation expenses. The emergency feed transportation assistance program will help producers who have transportation costs associated with moving livestock or feed.
“The drought has drastically reduced forage production and many producers have had to purchase and transport supplemental feed,” Goehring said. “This program will assist producers with defraying some of those transportation costs in order to help sustain their operation into the next year.”
Program eligibility requirements include:
Must have verifiable feed losses due to drought which required the producer to purchase supplemental feed or move feed from non-traditional sources
Must own at least 25 animal unit equivalents of breeding livestock, defined as: dairy cattle, beef cattle, bison, sheep or goats
The following will be considered “feed”
Hay or any other forage
Silage purchased outside of normal operation will be eligible
Grain including distillers and other co-products
Wheat midds
Beet pulp
Canola meal
Sunflower meal
Soybean hulls
Straw will be eligible
Other feeds and supplements are on a case by case basis
Transportation costs for purchased feed or feed put up outside of normal operation due to loss of feed incurred between April 8, 2021, and November 30, 2021, will be eligible. Feed must be used for the purposes of the producer’s own livestock operation.
For complete details on the program, visit www.nd.gov/ndda/eftap. Producers with further questions may email [email protected] or call 1-844-642-4752. Applications will be available on the Department of Agriculture’s website at www.nd.gov/ndda in mid-September and will close Dec. 15, 2021.
Goehring encouraged those willing to help truck feed to add their information to the Hay Hotline by calling 701-425-8454 to have their name and information added to the database. A self-service Hay Hotline map is available at http://www.nd.gov/ndda/ for those looking for forage.
The state emergency commission met Thursday and approved $2.5 million to reactivate the program, which was last used in 2019.
