Cajun Riveria

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Pecan Island, the home of Elizabeth, for you Swamp People lovers you know exactly who I'm talking about. On the 4th day of #beeftour12 we stopped just north of Pecan Island in Little Prairie and visited Raywood Stelly's alligator farm. T-Neg as he is referred to by the locals raises close to 50,000 alligators a year. He releases 14% of these gators back into the wild.  He sells alligator meat here at the farm and the hides go over seas.  His ideal gator is 4ft, this is the size that the watch band and purse markets "choot" for.

Next stop, as far south as you can go south in Louisiana, Cameron, a little town that was wiped out by Hurricane Rita.  Cameron is a cattle town of 2000 people. Cattle graze in the marshes right up to the beach, that is, the Gulf of Mexico!  On this part of the tour Todd Little of Hackberry hopped in the bus and explained to the group how these cows survive here in the marsh.  These cows walk and rest on ridges and then go down into the marsh to eat a high quality Joint Grass, which looks like Bermuda .  These cows will go into the marsh sometimes up to their bellys in mud and stick their head under water to graze on this high quality grass.  It really is amazing to see 30,000 acres of marsh land and the cows out in the mud and water.  Our next stop, The Gray Ranch, as others had warned  us about seeing a first class cattle and horse ranch, they were exactly right.  Mr. Kent LeDoux, ranch manager, of the Gray Ranch gave the crowd an overview of the farm and history.  He also toured us through the horse barn and pens to show off some of his prize possessions, one in Particular, Right this Minnick.  He is the white stallion in the pictures I have posted today. The ladies on our tour visited the LeDoux's home place, Mrs. LeDoux is a great hostess as well. Some interesting tidbits I jotted down from Mr LeDoux, " our bulls have to walk 30,000 acres, we need them to be able to move".  He also mentioned if he was selecting heifers for a150-200 acre farm they would look different than the ones he puts out in the marsh.  His cows have to be able to work, bred and take care of their young. This was a great tour stop, after listening to Mr LeDoux I was ready to go pick up rocks in the pasture. Check out their website at www.grayranch.com or look up their cattle drive on YouTube.  Leaving Cajun country, heading to Shreveport for the next 2 days!