Kentucky farmers donate cattle to hard-hit Louisiana
Byron Crawford
Louisville Courier Journal
In a nation of tragedies defined by headlines, voice-over videos and 10-second sound bites, hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now old news.
Another truckload of bulls, or hay, or horses, or fencing supplies leaving Kentucky for southwest Louisiana and southern Mississippi often goes unnoticed.
But the struggle by many farmers to stay on their farms and rebuild continues in regions hit hardest by the flooding and other devastation. A large number who lost their homes, equipment, barns, fences and crops were so overwhelmed by the losses that they had no resources to begin rebuilding their livestock herds.
“We lost an estimated 35,000 head of cattle,” said Bob Felknor of the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association. “Everything in the media centered around New Orleans … but there were people outside that area that came back and there was nothing left. Everything was just gone.”
The Beef Blog 