In an effort to help Louisiana cattle producers battling rising flood waters, a hay clearinghouse has been launched in the bayou state.

Anyone who needs hay or has hay to donate or sell can sign up at VoiceofLouisianaAgriculture.org and click on the "LFBF Hay Clearinghouse" link on the site menu. 

Tens of thousands of cattle have been displaced because of historic flooding in Louisiana. The waters continue to rise in many parts of the state, and many hay barns and ryegrass pastures are under water, ruining the hay and winter grazing that cattlemen were depending on to feed their herds until spring grazing becomes available, said Caddo parish cattleman Marty Wooldridge, who chairs the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation's Livestock Advisory Committee which is coordinating the hay clearinghouse. 

"Cattlemen are hurting," he said. "They've moved their cattle to high ground where they could." But Wooldridge said many of those cattle are stranded on river levees, with no way to access hay or feed.  In those cases cattlemen are taking hay by boat when possible.  But even then, there may not be enough hay to feed them.  

Cattlemen and hay producers can also call the site coordinator Carey Martin at 318-471-2114 to add their names to the hay clearinghouse list. 

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