Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office

We have numerous places where very large trees have fallen on the fences and ruined them. They are in need of repair before we can put animals back in them.  We had to put all the donkeys and hogs and goats in just two fields so they could get to the pond.  We were without electricity for 2 days and without water until just a few minutes ago.  We FINALLY got water flowing. Hope it stays on . The livestock had to fend for themselves with the ponds for water.  We lost two goats. It looks like a tornado came through he uprooting very very large healthy trees and breaking off huge branches right beside the house and through the woods as far as we can see. It is going to take us months of weekends to clean it up.

Tree across fence

This patch of woods that is fenced in looked like a park before the ice storm. There was no brush or anything on the ground, all clear ground and just nice big trees.  You can see where so many have fallen and/or broken off.

We live in Oldham County and were without power for 6 days, therefore without water for our livestock, including 40 head of sheep. Our barn water is supplied by a cistern with a pump. We had to carry water in 5 gallon buckets from the house several hundred yards away. The water froze almost immediately in troughs, making it almost impossible to keep drinkable water available. To complicate matters, I was out of town in Utah for a wedding when it happened and had a farm sitter here. It was the first time this young man worked for me, which made it very difficult. I had to fly home 3 days early on standby, as it was too expensive to rebook my plane fare without notice. American Airlines did not recognize KY as a state of emergency. Needless to say, I had to pay the farm sitter extra to care for my stock under those conditions.

I am thankful we did not lose any livestock.

"Thankfully we were only out about 24 hours and had a generator to keep things going, so we were okay.  Our neighbors are still out and so many friends across the county :-(. "