For farmers in Western Canada, this has been one of the hardest summers in 50 years, marked by weeks of drought that have decimated hay crops and left many farmers struggling to feed their livestock.

But one farmer in Parkland County, Alta., has just received help from a fellow farmer in Manitoba more than 1,000 kilometres away – a farmer whom she has never met.

Sheep farmer Carla Rhyant says until it finally rained two weeks ago, her whole 30 acres had been completely brown, having seen just 2 cm of rain all summer.

Rhyant has been able to move her 100 sheep from field to field to find them grazing grass, but she wondered how she was going to get through the next few months.

"Every day, worrying about what are we going to do for September and October? What are we going to do once we're done the pasture over there?" she said.

She knew she could buy hay, but she also knew that with the drought, hay was going for up to five times the normal price – a price she couldn't afford.

But earlier this week, hope arrived for Rhyant in the form of a flatbed truck, when she received a donation of 30 bales of hay from farmers in Manitoba.

Three volunteer truck drivers split up the job of driving the hay 1,200 kilometres, including truck driver Carl Rosenau, who owns Rosenau Transport, Ltd.

"I just seen what the news says… And we knew they needed a hand, so we stepped up to the plate," Rosenau said while unloading the bales for Rhyant.

The hay itself comes from Jurgen Kohler who has donated 100 bales to several farmers in Alberta. He says he feels it was the right thing to do, given that his farm has seen lots of rain this summer.

"The growing conditions have been just fantastic here in Manitoba, so we decided we wanted to support the small family farms in Alberta," he said.

Rhyant says the donation will save her $6,000 and she now has half of what she needs for winter, helping to give her hope for a better season next year.

"Being able to continue with what my dream is – I mean, agriculture is a passion. Most of us that do it, we're not in it for the money; we do it because we love it."

With a report from CTV Edmonton's Josh Skurnik