Rita, Katrina and Cattle

<a href="http://2theadvocate.com/stories/092805/new_cattle001.shtml">Coast turns to stranded cattle, livelihood</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Ranchers on Tuesday banded together and focused on rescue, but as they carted trailers full of cattle northward past pasture after ruined pasture, the troubles ahead were never far from their minds.<br />n<br />n "It means profit and loss," said third-generation rancher Russell Greene, of Little Prairie. "If you have the backbone to stick it out, you'll start over. But a lot are going to get out."<br />n<br />n From Lafourche to Calcasieu parishes, estimates of dead cattle start at 15,000, and as many as 30,000 could be in danger, said Bob Felknor, head of the Louisiana Cattlemen Association.<br />n<br />n…<br />n<br />nBoney-rumped and skittish, his 10 cows hesitated for more than 20 minutes before any would load into a trailer. Stan Dutile, an LSU Agricultural Center official in Lafayette Parish, said that many of the cows were supposed to be pregnant, but the stress of the storm and ensuing days without water could have caused miscarriages.<br />n<br />n Even after ranchers pull cows from the flood, it will take some time for the malnourished and dehydrated animals to recover.<br />n<br />n To do that, they need fields to graze on — a commodity that's become precious as coastal pastures sit in several feet of salt water and neighboring land fills with evacuated cattle.<br />n<br />n…<br />n<br />nThere was no way for Boudreaux — also a carpenter and rice grower — to rescue his cows, so he boated out and brought feed and fresh water to those they could find.<br />n<br />n A larger scale feed drop is in the works for Vermilion Parish thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.<br />n<br />n The agencies worked Tuesday in Cameron Parish, where flooding was even more severe, locating stranded animals and dropping them bales of hay.<br />n<br />n Sylvia Trahan of Forked Island gave a <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> agent the location of 90 cattle trapped south of the Intracoastal Canal. The animals, which normally drink 15 gallons of water daily, have not had a fresh drink for three days.<br />n<br />n Trahan said that in her region, saving cattle is second only to saving human life.<br />n "After that, definitely," she said. "This is our livelihood."</blockquote><br />n<br />n<b>Pray. To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. Ambrose Bierce</b>