MYAKKA CITY, Fla. — The impact of the recent hurricanes is obvious in Tampa Bay area coastal communities and so many populated neighborhoods. ABC Action News went to Myakka City to speak with a rancher to learn how recent storms have impacted the ranching community which plays such an important role in the state of Florida.
Jim Strickland is a rancher who manages several ranches ranging from Ocala to DeSoto County.
“We are sitting at Big Red Cattle Company kind of in the middle of Manatee County. We got hit fairly hard there,” said Strickland. “Two of our ranches that are closer to the coast along the I-75 corridor look like war zones.”
“Our main issue, the biggest thing that we take care of after our people and our animals are safe, is making sure that all of our perimeter fences on the ranches are up,” said Strickland.
He drove us around the ranch to show us the work they’ve done since Hurricanes Helene and Milton passed through.
“And I mean the day after the hurricane, everybody knows if their families are good, we all have to go to work and you can see how many trees we have removed off,” said Strickland.
The rancher explained that this is to protect the cattle inside the fence and the people outside. Ranches that experienced flooding due to the hurricanes are dealing with a variety of issues.
“If you have flooding, you can’t get into your crop. If you have flooding, you can’t bale hay. If you have flooding, your cows are going to be standing in water sometimes for days at a time,” said Strickland.
“Are you seeing those long-term effects with your cattle, or did you after [hurricane] Ian?” asked St. Germain.
“Yes, after Ian, and particularly after Milton. We got so much we kind of tend to forget about Helene because we did have a lot of wind damage, but we had a tremendous amount of rain. So, we’ve been doctoring cattle for foot rot, which means our cows have been standing out in water for so long and we have opened every gate on every ranch to where we can get those cattle to higher ground,” said Strickland.
Strickland brought ABC Action News around the rest of the property, pointing out piles of trees left from Hurricane Ian and damage from Hurricane Milton.
“Is it tough seeing these piles of trees for you, knowing this is one of your commodities here?” asked St. Germain.
“Oh, sure. It’s gone. I mean, it’s gone. And you think about people that have nothing but timber. Their whole life is gone,” said Strickland.
“What is the long-term impact of storms like Milton, Helene, Idalia, Ian … on ranchers?” asked St. Germain.
“Well, it’s kind of tough because the long-term impact is still going on all the way back to Hurricane Ian.
Strickland explains rather than FEMA, ranchers can qualify for money from the FSA (Farm Service Agency) or the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service).
“During Hurricane Ian, we had close to $1,000,000 worth of documented damage. We are still waiting two years later,” said Strickland, “So those long-term effects are really tough because you have to survive sometimes before you get paid.”
“You have to understand that out here, we may lose thousands of trees, but they are also very important to us because that’s our income stream. Whether they are pine trees or orange trees. If we lose those trees – citrus or pine or a crop, our income stream is gone,” said Strickland.
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