Loss to poultry, timber adding up following Rita

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Electric company crews work to restore power in the storm-damaged areas. Ag producers and rural residents have been severely affected by the lack of electricity. -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

Oct. 6, 2005 - Clean up and restoration are the goals in Texas’ southeastern counties ravaged by Hurricane Rita, and rural and ag-related losses are adding up each day.

Rita’s strong winds and rain battered Southeast Texas on Sept. 24, damaging rice and soybean crops, but sparing much of the region’s cotton.

Loss of electricity has been a great blow to ag operations that rely on power. Work crews have been steadily working to repair downed lines and restore power, according to news reports.

�Right now, it�s day to day. ... This is going to have a financial impact on the region for six months to a year,� said Dr. Ramona Kellum, district administrator for Texas Cooperative Extension in Overton, on Sept. 28.

The southern counties of Kellum’s district includes those hard hit by Rita, including Tyler, Jasper, and Newton.

The administrator said one problem was a shortage of utility poles, produced in the area, that are needed to replace those damaged by the storm. “Most had been shipped to Louisiana” following Hurricane Katrina, Kellum said.

In talking with county Extension agents in Deep East Texas, Kellum reported the significant agricultural losses will be counted by poultry and timber producers.

�I was just talking to (county Extension agent) Jackie Risner in Nacogdoches and the loss to poultry is tremendous,� Kellum said. �Without (electrical) power, there�s no way to keep the birds cool, and to operate the feeding and watering systems.�

Kellum cited some examples just from Nacogdoches County. On a day shortly following the storm, a total of 250,000 birds at contract grower houses were lost, and one producer reported spending $500 in diesel to keep generators running. 

Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride have contract growers in the Deep East Texas and Southeast Texas areas. Both companies are reporting, however, that the losses will not be significant to their businesses.

On Sept. 26, Pilgrim’s said its processing facilities in the path of Hurricane Rita suffered no damage, and its contract poultry-raising operations in the area reported only minimal damage. The number of chickens lost to the storm was insignificant to the entire company, according to news reports.

On Sept. 28, Tyson’s said the impact of Rita was minor. The company kept generators running at their feed mills and hatcheries for power, and supplied fuel to growers who were using generators to power their chicken houses. Tyson’s also noted bird loss at contract growing operations due to the storm was minimal.

Dr. Lelve Gayle, executive director of the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College Station, said the Center Poultry Diseases lab in Shelby County survived Rita and is still operating.

�Most of the poultry industry did not receive severe damage, but there were spotted areas of disruption,� he told Texas Cooperative Extension news writer Robert Burns. �We came out in pretty good shape.�

Timber is another significant ag entity in Southeast Texas, and many stands were damaged by the high winds.

While the downed or damaged timber can be harvested, the over-supply it is likely to create depressed market prices, Kellum added.

An aerial survey by the Texas Forest Service on Sept. 28 reported severe damage in a 400-square mile area centered at Mauriceville, which includes most of Orange County and the southern one-third of Jasper and Newton counties. It is estimated there is 50 to 100 percent damage in this area, the report noted.

TFS is expected to soon give a complete account of the damaged timber – or what needs to be salvaged within the year as it will die – as well as the affected timber – which is timber whose growth may be affected from the storm, but not necessarily mean the timber will die.

Livestock owners in the regions are also facing debris-covered pastures. While the region welcomed Rita’s rainfall, which greened-up the grasses, producers are faced with downed timber, branches, and debris blown into their pastures, which can minimize grazing.

Chuck Kiker, a beef and rice producer in Jefferson County, said his cattle survived the storm, but he’s heard of some isolated cases were livestock were lost due to a fallen tree. Kiker said, on Sept. 29, that he spoke with a friend in Lake Charles, La., that had incurred salt water intrusion in his pastures, which can be devastating for livestock. “East of Lake Charles up to Sabine Pass, there was some cases of salt water intrusion,” he said.

On the west side of Jefferson County, where Kiker’s ranch is located, they received six to eight inches of rain, but suffered no flooding. “Actually, we were quite dry, so the rain was good.”

The producer’s ratoon rice crop didn’t fair as well as the cattle. “I had about 150 acres in the field, and what went down was maybe 25 to 50 percent. What’s standing has shattered heads.”

Lack of electricity means what can be harvested can be dried, but the three dryers in the Beaumont area are doing the best they can with generators.

Kiker said he initially heard restoration of electricity was going to take four to eight weeks, but on Sept. 29 he was told it might be just a few more days before power is restored to a few places. “There are a lot of electric people here working on it,” he said, and noted crews have come from other states.

Another aspect of storm-related losses is the delivery of mail. Kiker said he’d sent off a load of steers recently and the guy called and said he’d put the check in the mail. “I said, ‘Ah, I wish you hadn’t but it in the mail!’” Even ATM machines in the area are depleted of their cash supply.

Dealing with the losses is a focus of Texas Cooperative Extension. “Extension’s job right now is education,” Kellum stressed. “We’ll be educating people on how to deal with these financial losses, how to dispose of spoiled foods, clean up homes, how to deal with loss of pasture, lack of fuel, ... things we don’t normally deal with, but now we have to.”

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a notice on Sept. 28 for citizens in 15 East Texas counties to boil water until further notice, and urged private well owners to take the same precautions, especially if their well house was flooded. The 15 counties are Angelina, Chambers, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Marion, Montgomery, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, and Walker.

Lack of fuel has not only been a problem for ag producers, but even for insurance adjusters, clean up crews, and those wanting to get into the devastated areas. Country World photographer Carolyn Rost, who was in Jefferson County on Sept. 27, reported, “It was a bit scary in that area, driving for so long with no open convenience stores and gas stations for miles and miles. Electrical power was out throughout the area. ... There were road blocks at Sour Lake (in Hardin County) and then at Nome (Jefferson County), officials were not letting anyone in to Beaumont.”

Other reports from Texas Cooperative Extension noted losses in ratoon rice and soybean crops. Ron Holcomb, Extension agent in Liberty County, said 15 percent of the ratoon rice crop in Deep East Texas was destroyed by the hurricane. The soybean crop suffered damage also, with 10 percent to 12 percent lost.

�Rice that was ready (to be) harvested was shattered,� he said. �Rice prices are low, even that (small loss) will further hurt profit margins.�

Soybean producers may also experience financial burden.

�The 10-percent (loss) of soybeans will certainly hurt profit margins, but the beans remaining after the storm looked good,� Holcomb said.

The remaining soybeans will benefit from significant rainfall, he added.

When Hurricane Rita turned slightly east before making landfall early Saturday, Sept. 24, the majority of the unharvested cotton in the Coastal Bend area was spared due to lack of direct hurricane-force winds, and harvested, tarp-covered cotton waiting in modules at the fields’ edges was spared due to lack of flooding.

Reports from Texas Grain and Feed Association noted preliminary reports indicate export grain elevators located at the Texas Gulf sustained only minimal, if any, physical damage from Rita. There are seven export grain elevators located in the Texas Gulf region, with a combined storage capacity of approximately 33 million bushels.