What’s Been Happening on Golden Ranch Farms

As a business owner, philanthropist and conservationist, Benny Cenac, CEO of Cenac Marine Services and owner of Golden Ranch Farms, is kept quite busy. Whether he’s supporting local arts, protecting Louisiana’s precious wildlife and wetlands or taking care of his employees, Benny Cenac is constantly giving back to others and to his community. Check out what has been happening on Golden Ranch these past few months!

Summertime in Louisiana

In the summertime, Benny Cenac and his team help raise the fawns born on his ranch.

Benny Cenac and his team work hard to protect and conserve the animals on Golden Ranch during the sweltering Louisiana summers.

The sweltering Louisiana summer heat can be a problem for the many animals that make their home on Benny Cenac’s Golden Ranch Farms. In the summertime, Benny Cenac undertakes several conservation projects for certain species. For example, most does on the ranch give birth to one or two fawns during the summertime, which then Benny Cenac and his team will devote the rest of the season to caring for. Benny Cenac is immensely thankful for the ranch crew and interns who help out on his ranch, ensuring that the animals are protected and well taken care of for years to come.

Some of the alligators bred at living a long, healthy life than those born in the wild. on Benny Cenac’s alligator farm are let back into the wild, where they have a better chance

Although alligator populations reached dangerously low levels only 50 years ago, efforts by conservationists like Benny Cenac helped bring the alligator population back to healthy levels.

The Alligators at Golden Ranch

While alligator populations 50 years ago were dangerously low, conservation efforts successfully brought them back up to healthy, unthreatened levels. Benny Cenac’s alligator farm on Golden Ranch helped with these efforts. The farm today is one of the only captive breeding operations in the country, used to sustain and preserve a healthy alligator population.

Benny Cenac’s Sugarcane Farm

That land that now makes up Benny Cenac’s Golden Ranch farms has been cultivating sugarcane since the early 19^th century. Sugarcane is the world’s largest cultivated crop and is produced on roughly 400,000 acres of land in Louisiana. The sugarcane on Benny Cenac’s Golden Ranch not only provides a significant source of income, but also betters the environment by producing ethanol, which reduces greenhouse gases by roughly 90 percent compared to gasoline.

The Annual Gueydan Duck Festival

One of Benny Cenac’s favorite days of the year is the Gueydan Duck Festival. At the end of August every year, festival goers from all over the Gulf Coast come to the Duck Capital of America to enjoy the celebration, full of cook-offs, duck-and-goose-calling competitions, carnival rides, live music, and so much more. Sadly, duck populations in Louisiana are declining, but Benny Cenac works hard to preserve the land on which they live and provide a refuge to these ducks as well as the countless other species of animals in Louisiana.

Efforts to Protect the Louisiana Black Bear

The Louisiana black bear, the official state mammal, is one of 16 sub-species of the American black bear, and they can sometimes be seen on Benny Cenac’s Golden Ranch Farms. Sadly, in the 1980s, only about 150 Louisiana black bears remained, due to overexploitation and habitat fragmentation. But philanthropists like Benny Cenac and environmental groups worked hard to protect the species and the bear was ultimately removed from the Endangered Species list in 2016. There are now 683,000 acres of bear habitat in the state, including on Golden Ranch Farms.