'Bale' Out Needed: Louisiana sends hay to Texas

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor

LORANGER/HAMMOND – For more than a month now, donated round bales of hay have been making their way via donated transportation and donated dollars for fuel from Southeast Louisiana to drought-stricken Texas.Hale Bales headed out: About 17 round bales of hay weighing about 800 pounds each, fit on a gooseneck trailer, bound from Loranger, La., to Texas, for drought relief.

It’s a mission project started by a member of Woodland Park Baptist Church in Hammond. He’s retired from his job with the Louisiana Department of Transportation, but not from the small spread he farms near Loranger, on which graze about 20 head of beef cattle.

“I was at home, watching the news, and you could see how bad it [the drought] was out there [in Texas,]” the mission project catalyst said. “I love missions and wanted to help. Then I left my house and as I was driving I saw left-over hay from last year in a barn. That’s when it hit me: Why don’t I find out how many barns have left-over hay they’d donate?”