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Arkansas poultry and livestock industries battle winter weather

The recent string of winter weather events continues to take a toll on the nation’s livestock and poultry producers.

Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward says the state’s poultry industry is feeling the pinch from the prolonged period of bitterly cold temperatures. “A lot of things impact their ability to operate,” he says.  “One, of course, is the energy and natural gas side.  But two, when you’ve got this much snow and ice, it’s hard for people to get to work.  And so they’ve been struggling through several of those aspects.”

He tells Brownfield any lengthy disruptions to the production system can have long-term impacts on the industry. “A hatchery goes down, and you lose what’s in that hatchery – and that’s three weeks of production,” he says.  “And that compounds as it goes.  That’s producers who aren’t getting their next load of chickens to raise, and then it’s the processing plants.  And it cascades and it grows as it prolongs throughout time.”

Ward says so far disruptions have been minimal, but they continue to monitor the power and natural gas situation. “The companies have been trying very hard as we’re looking at rolling blackouts and curtailments to be able to shift some of that to areas where these facilities can continue to operate without being completely shut down,” he says. 

He says they’re hoping to be through the worst of this and relief is in sight, especially as temperatures are expected to climb to the upper 50’s by early next week. 

AUDIO: Wes Ward, Arkansas Department of Agriculture