NILE Merit Heifer Program thanks Knaub Cattle Company, others

BILLINGS, MONT.– Kids, heifers, and a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about the beef industry. That’s what the NILE Merit Heifer Program is all about!

Each year approximately 25 heifers are donated to the program, in which 25 qualified applicants are matched up to receive a heifer. Recipients must care for, halter break, feed, breed, complete monthly reports, and show at the NILE in order to gain full possession of the heifer. One may say that’s an easy task for a free heifer, well that’s not exactly the road Alexis Canen from Glendive, MT has experienced.

All had gone well for Alexis, up until she had began attempting to get her heifer bred via artificial insemination earlier this spring – and then the unexpected happened. In early June, Alexis’s heifer donated by Knaub Cattle Company from Lodge Grass, MT, began drastically losing weight, would not eat, and was not cycling. With the advice of a vet, Alexis began treating her with medications and acupuncture treatments. Worried that she may lose the heifer Alexis contacted the NILE Merit Heifer Coordinator and her donor.

Fearing the worst, donor Scott Knaub with Knaub Cattle Company graciously stepped up and recommended trading out for a healthy heifer. In the weeks since, Alexis and her family have made the trip back to Lodge Grass to make the swap. Scott and his wife Marcella, will continue to care for the sick heifer with hopes that she will come out of the sickness.

With out the generosity and graciousness of our donors – like Scott of Marcella – the NILE Merit Heifer Program would not be what it has grown into today! A HUGE THANK YOU to each and every donor that has donated to the program in the years since inception! Visit http://www.thenile.org for a full listing of the 2016 NILE Merit Heifer Donors.

For more information regarding the NILE Merit Heifer Program, please email Shelby at shelby@thenile.org or call the NILE Office at 406-256-2495.

–the NILE