Okeechobee County, Florida…

And the Cowboy Road Away!

Okeechobee County remains the capital of Florida’s beef and dairy cattle industry but economic and environmental pressures forced the relocation of thousands of herds to the Suwanee Valley of North Florida and to South Georgia. Many small dairies once provided “company housing” to its workers with concrete block houses located near milking barns. today, abandoned clusters of homes north of Okeechobee City on US 441 are a glimpse to where Florida cowboys were neighbors working and living together. Now empty mailboxes and driveways without pickup trucks and laughing children reflect past challenges that today continue to confront Florida’s cattle industry.