Hay arrives for drought-stricken Victoria County ranchers
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The hay will be unloaded from the Union Pacific boxcars Tuesday at the port of Victoria.
County Commissioner Kevin Janak said ranchers who ordered the hay will be called on Thursday and Friday and notified when to pick up their ...
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The hay will be unloaded from the Union Pacific boxcars Tuesday at the port of Victoria.
County Commissioner Kevin Janak said ranchers who ordered the hay will be called on Thursday and Friday and notified when to pick up their orders.
Rancher Kyle Brady knows too well how the drought has devastated pastures in Victoria County that producers had hoped to harvest for winter hay.
He has only been able to cut enough hay to account for about 25 percent of his needs for feeding this winter. That's why he turned to Victoria County Operation Hay Lift II for another 30 bales to help feed his 125 head of cattle.
Without it, he would have had to consider selling some of his cattle at a time when a glut of livestock on the market has driven down prices.
A Union Pacific train with 13 cars pulled into Bloomington over the weekend with the first round of hay. Another seven cars was expected Tuesday.
County Commissioner Kevin Janak, who helped organized the hay lift, said had Union Pacific not agreed to help, the hay would have had to be transported from Arkansas by truck.
"Trucking is very expensive," Janak said. "Free rail is the only feasible way we could have gotten this here."
The delivery is free to the producers who ordered the hay at $35 a bail, but Union Pacific paid the cost to deliver the hay.
In fact, it cost about $2,000 per boxcar, including fuel, labor and mechanical costs, said Joe Adams, Union Pacific vice president of public affairs.
"We learned of the issue here with the drought and the need to help out," he said. "We just want to be good neighbors."
And Union Pacific is working on bringing another 20 boxcars of hay to Victoria in October, he said. Each car carries 40 bales.
It took a little less than a week to get the boxcars from Arkansas to Victoria because they had to be transported by four or five different trains.
The cars were loaded in Atkins, Ark., and then moved to North Little Rock. From there they went to Pine Bluff to catch a southbound train to Houston, where they were switched to a train bound for Corpus Christi.
"It's a bit of a cost for Union Pacific," Adams said. "But it is well worth it."
Janak said a total of 800 bales were to have been delivered by Tuesday, with another 800 bales slated to arrive in October.
Comments
In case someone missed my point; I'm trying to provide a heads up to local farmers and ranchers.
Perhaps, get your local cooperatives to research and determine if what I say is true.
Maybe secure prices or quantities, I'm just trying to look out for my farmer and rancher buddies in the crossroads area.
September 30, 2009 at 3:34 p.m.large quantities of rain in certain parts of the United States, may create a shortage next year. A rancher spoke to me and said, "If we get an early freeze with the ground soaked, it will damage feed stock".
This person along with a few others that conduct ranching from Mexico to Canada, echoed what amounted to uniformed opinion, among many ranchers.
weather patterns, along with changes in how feed is being used; brings question and doubt. Currently neither the government or private cooperatives have implemented a real plan to address these concerns.
Some have suggested, that a national effort be taken to reevaluate where crops are grown, in dealing with changes in climate.
In addition, requiring a specific amount of feed be set aside for livestock to prevent inflation due to competition with biofuel production; has been suggested.
The bottomline; action, inaction, or misplaced action will have consequences that will have great consequences for farmers and ranchers.
"Q"
September 29, 2009 at 12:45 p.m.