September 8, 2005

 

US beef and dairy farmers hit by Hurricane Katrina

 

Hurricane Katrina has badly hit cow and calf producers in US states Louisiana and Mississippi.

 

In the hardest-hit southern part of Louisiana, flooding had made it impossible to assess cattle losses. However, there are fears that cattle death toll from drowning would be high, according to Courtney Pollack from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

 

Pollack explained that producers failed to get cattle onto high enough grounds.

 

In Mississippi where damages were more wind-related, assessing cattle losses were as difficult with fences, barns and outbuildings destroyed. Cattle had gone missing, apparently trying to escape the storm.

 

Mississippi Delta's dairy producers also said that they had to dump milk because they could not get the production to plants, which were closed anyway.

 

The poultry industry in the two states unexpectedly dodged destruction, according to poultry companies and the National Chicken Council (NCC).

 

Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer of Minnesotan-based Sanderson Farms, the fifth-largest chicken company in the country, said that the resiliency of poultry and houses resulted only in damaged buildings, and not even at the levels expected.

 

Currently, the company's processing plants faced more of a power issue rather than structural damages.

 

Tyson Foods' Gary Mickelson reported much the same.

 

Besides power, another obstacle was getting chickens to plants, and feed, fuel and service-people to farms as thousands of felled trees blocked routes, according to NCC communications director Richard Lobb.

 

Katrina's path missed most pork, turkey and egg operations in the region.