Rebuilding bigger and better after two hurricanes

When you grow up along the coast of Florida, you accept that hurricanes are part of life. I had been through my share of hurricanes as a kid, but I never experienced anything like the two hurricanes that came through our town of Okeechobee in 2004.

Okeechobee is Florida’s largest dairy county, situated in the middle of the state. When we moved here in 1966, we figured we were far enough inland that any hurricane that reached us would have weakened by then.

That theory changed drastically when hurricanes Frances and Jeanne visited. They brought more wind and damage than anything I had ever experienced living within 10 miles of the Atlantic coast as a kid.

With Frances on the way, we boarded up our employee houses, so they were safe, and took shelter in our home, hoping for the best. When the storm hit, I wouldn’t say we were afraid, but a hurricane sure makes you appreciate the force of nature.

When there was finally a lull after the storm, we went outside to assess the damage. The hurricane tore up our barns so badly we had cattle meeting us on the road. It was a little overwhelming to see feed barns engineered to handle 120-mph winds torn to shreds.

But the cows were smart. When the barns started rattling and coming apart, they left for the open pasture to safely ride out the storm.

Even with no power, trees uprooted, debris scattered everywhere and a long road of recovery ahead (not to mention Hurricane Jeanne), we were very lucky. Nobody on our farm was hurt and our cows survived. A disaster like this brings people closer together and we appreciated our family, friends and fellow dairy farmers even more.

Twenty days after Frances hit land, Jeanne came and finished the job. But, amid the destruction, we saw an opportunity to come back stronger and better than we were before.

Our previous facility, built 40 years ago, was a bit old fashioned by today’s standards. Meeting environmental regulations is a priority for all dairy farmers and rebuilding gave us an opportunity to utilize modern environmental technology and enhance our cow comfort measures too.

In their new home, our cows are more content than they’ve ever been. We built two modern freestall barns that give them access to food and water and the freedom to move about as they desire. We use sand beds for soft, comfortable resting. The sand is like what you see at the beach and it’s cleaned and fluffed by machines every day. We also installed 84 large fans that create a breeze of nearly 10 mph, plus a sprinkler system that sprays a cooling drizzle of clean water.

Sand, breeze and cool water – almost sounds like a day at the beach! After what these cows dealt with from the hurricanes, I’d say they have more than earned it.