The state Agriculture Secretary says his office continues to work with livestock producers in areas of the state without power to get them lined up with generators needed to keep animals watered, fed and warm. Ag Secretary Bill Northey says they’ve set up a link on their website to help share information on generators.
Northey says the website is www.agriculture.state.ia.us , and he says you can see what generators are available. He says you can also call the Iowa Concerns Hotline at: 800-447-1985, and they can access the website for you. Northey says there are still thousands of people in rural Iowa without power and that includes livestock producers.
Northey says some of those farms are at the end of a long line of broken electric poles and may be hard to get to for several more days. Northey says there were some farms that lost animals as their buildings collapsed under the snow and ice, but so far he says the lack of electricity doesn’t seem to be leading to loss of animals.
Northey says right now everyone seems to be working to take care of things and he hasn’t heard of much loss. Northey says they hope to find alternative power sources for those livestock producers who need it before the next storm comes in.