Storms, Rain & Hurricanes: Planning for Natural Occurences on Your Farm
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When you run a farm, there are plenty of problems that you can potentially face. For a start, you’re exposed to the elements. Throughout the year, you might have to deal with storms, rain and hurricanes, not to mention snow, ice and earthquakes. Where you are located will determine which of these natural occurrences will prove most of a threat to your farm. But it’s worth being prepared for them. Read the information below to plan for potential problems.
Keep Vehicles Ready for Use
It’s important to make sure that your farm’s vehicles are ready to be used at a moment's notice. There are a number of different reasons for this. You might need to move items or livestock quickly if a storm approaches fast. Knowing that there is fuel in the tank and that your vehicles are ready to jump into action will mean you can get started more rapidly. Also, after a storm or hurricane subsides, you might need to get to work quickly to start fixing things and getting your farm back in working order. Any time lost will be even more damaging for your farm.
Get Water Drainage Right
Water drainage is another big issue that you’re going to have to think about when preparing for your farm. Storms and heavy rain can hit you at pretty much any time of the year. Therefore, having a good drainage system that you can rely on throughout the year is really important. It will allow you to ensure that your farm doesn’t flood just because it gets hit with a bit of rain. For some farms, flooding can be monumentally bad. Crops can be killed, and even animals can too if the flooding is particularly bad. Companies like Cochran Engineering can help you with this kind of thing.
Create a Livestock Evacuation Plan
It makes sense to have a concrete plan for the evacuation of your livestock. If this is something that you don’t have, you could end up losing some animals or having them get injured. No farmer wants to deal with that. Knowing what to do with your livestock when an extreme storm or hurricane is approaching can be tricky. You should definitely think about getting them to another piece of land that won’t be as badly affected. If there is going to be heavy winds, it’s not a good idea to keep them in a barn. If the barn gets damaged, your animals could be hurt or killed.
Nail Everything Down to Avoid Flying Objects
Not everyone knows this, but the most common cause of injuries and deaths to livestock during adverse weather conditions is flying debris. If a plank of wood or something even heavier is whipped up by the wind, it could hit your livestock and cause deaths. This is a big loss to your farm, so it makes a lot of sense to make sure that everything that is not 100% secure is nailed down and unable to be moved. It should keep your livestock much safer for the duration of the extreme weather event.