Farmers Line Up for Free Hay to Feed Starving Cattle

Farmers drove up to 100 miles and lined up overnight Wednesday in Georgia for a chance at free hay to feed cattle starving in a drought that has cost farmers in the Southeast an estimated $1.5 billion.

Although temperatures have temporarily eased in the region after 2 1/2 weeks of 100-degree highs, the death toll since July 1 has risen to 42.

The Georgia cattlemen lined up in a field at the Atlanta Farmers Market for a share of 40 tons of hay donated by Illinois farmers and flown in by Air Force cargo jets.

“This is our only chance to keep our cattle alive,” said Sara Dockery of Royston, who drove in from 100 miles away. “This means the cows will survive for five more days,” her husband, Franklin, said.

60 Cattle to Feed

The first farmer in line was Dale Banford, of Winder, who said he arrived Tuesday night. He said he has had to feed his 60 beef cattle apples and stale bread, and they ate leaves off trees blown down in a storm last week. “This is a short start, but it’s a start,” he said.

Banford was among about 40 farmers who got up to 50 bales each. Twenty-five others were turned away when the hay ran out after four hours of distribution.

Three Air Force jets loaded with 3,600 bales of hay Wednesday in Des Moines were to be flown to Greenville, S.C. Another plane was being loaded at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“It’s nice to be helping Americans for a change,” said Staff Sgt. Alan Maun of McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash., one of the crewmen on the planes.

“They’re farmers, we’re farmers and we have to stick together and hope it does some good,” said farmer Dennis Knuth in Wisconsin, where Gov. Anthony S. Earl’s staff said about 30,000 bales of hay, or about 750 tons, had been donated.

Cooler Temperatures

Clouds and scattered rain kept the Southeast below 100 degrees for a second consecutive day Wednesday. But Macon, Ga., came close with a high of 98 degrees. Columbia, S.C., recorded 96 degrees Wednesday after a high of 97 on Tuesday, ending a record string of 15 days of triple-digit temperatures.

But highs could be over 100 degrees again next week, Charlotte Camp of the National Weather Service in Columbia said.

Scattered thunderstorms developed Tuesday from Maryland to Florida, dropping more than three inches of rain on Valdosta, Ga., within six hours.

But the rain is too late for some crops. “Soybeans could improve some if there is rain, but it’s certainly too late for crops such as corn,” Henry Power of the South Carolina Crop Reporting Service said.

Besides the drought, heat is killing poultry. About 600,000 broiler chickens have died in Georgia in the last 12 days, said Abit Massey, executive director of the Georgia Poultry Federation. Georgia’s $6-billion poultry industry is losing about $5 million a week, he said.