This article is more than a week deep , as we are still engaged in a mass regional recovery effort from Hurricane Harvey in Texas . Fortunately , our farm was not hit too firmly , but we did receive more than 36 inches of rain in four day , so things could have been very frightful . If there is a cocksure aspect of ruinous global climate modification , it is that we have had atypical flooding three eld in a row , and so we ’ve created a system to cope with it . No one expects to be in this position , but some severe employment now can prepare you for the day when it might be your farm in the cross hairs of an unprecedented flooding outcome . Here are some affair we suggest .
Move Your Barn To Higher Ground Or Build A Backup Shelter
Our land has a sluttish natural slope . Our house is on the highest point , the barns are behind the house , and land of land are behind them . The hill is not huge , but the elevation differences mean urine moves toward the back acreage when rainfall fall severely enough . If your b is in a low-toned lie arena of your property that takes on water in heavy rain , look at moving it now . If that is n’t possible , take building a backup tax shelter on gamey solid ground . Even if it ’s just hoop houses made with oxen panel that you could embrace with stratum of heavy tariff tarpaulin when it ’s time — havesomethingavailable to shelter your goats on higher priming coat .
Raise Your Barn/Shelter Floor; Dig Trenches To Divert Water
During our first experience with major flooding , water actuate downhill as anticipated , but it move aright through the barn . It pool in low lying areas and formed river in others . It left very short dry ground for the goats to stand on . After that event , we add more filth inside the barn — specially at the fundament of the wall , but also to satiate in low-spirited prevarication areas . We then hollow shallow trenches outside the b so water would move around it rather than through it . This takes a few hours of sweaty work , but the wages is tremendous . Lisa Seger
Have Materials For Platforms That KeepHoovesOut Of Water
stand in pee or clay during flooding will bust up your Capricorn ’ hoof . When you have five days of rain or tropic storm winds , the floor will eventually be wet , even in an otherwise reasonably ironic b . We keep a sales booth full of pallet and plyboard to deploy when the barn floor beat gross . We call it the dance storey . We assembled it on day three of Harvey . We lie down the palette down and screw the plyboard on top . you’re able to also use cinder block in place of pallets . We encompass it all with pine grazing to keep it from contract too tricky and to make it comfortable to lie in on . Our goats really make out the terpsichore storey . Lisa Seger
Buy A Week’s Worth OfFeed, Bedding & Hay—Before The Rain Starts
Just as people panic - buy all the water supply and bread in supermarkets before a hurricane and its associated flooding , so too do they panic - buy hay and shavings . Do not wait too long . Our 35 - butt herd rifle through three straight Bale before the storm cleared and the road were adequate so we could essay more . Calculate what you ’ll need in progression . Do n’t panic , but screw it could be a full week before you will be able to get hold more . Same with the shavings . You ’ll need to add more each day of a weather upshot to keep your Goat dry and comfortable . We go through about 15 bag in five days . Not all areas need deep bedding , you just take to tot it when things get torpid . Lisa Seger
Having successfully shepherded our herd through three monumental flood now , we have a system down — though I could happily live the rest of my days not ever doing it again . As with everything , a small preparation go a long way . Consider working on your own flooding plan this fall before spring rains arrive . No one is ever sad that they ’ve spent time improve their barn or their drainage . Ever . Trust me on this .
Lisa Seger
Lisa Seger
Lisa Seger
