Friday, June 10, 2011

And the rain came down...


Each year, we do our best to raise as much of our feed as possible. Grasses for hay and corn for Silage is the bulk of our cattle's diet.  After the big flood of '93, there wasn't much that stood in the way of this goal, until now.  For the past three years, our 3 miles of river bottom crops that butt up against the Mighty Mo have found themselves underwater for more time than they can stand.  Gamma grass, Sudan grass and Sorghum were some of the victims to the high, sustained waters.

Early flooding June 2010

This year we've opted out of the grasses and were going corn and beans.  It's June 10 and we've already flooded.  Nothing major but nothing great.  Today on the news we heard this announcement, Army Corps plans to release maximum amount of water on Tuesday, its an almost guarantee that we'll be battling to floods for another year. 



Now flooding and drought are nothing new to farmers but it seems unusual to be in a 10 year flood plain to flood every year for 4 straight.  C'est La Vie. 



Tell me, how is your community preparing for the flooding? 

1 comment:

  1. I think farming on river bottom land is inherent with flooding risk thanks to the Corps water management practices. Maybe you should turn the land into a race track....

    Paul

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