The plentiful late season rains while welcomed by many has created problems for some ag businesses including a dairy farmer who reported losing a few animals due to wet and muddy conditions.

Triple G Dairy Vice President Brett Goolsby said Monday that the recent downpours have caused many problems on his family’s dairy farm.

“With all this rain it makes it hard to harvest crops,” he said. “We couldn’t plant crops due to too much water in the fields.”

They are also dealing with a lot of mud, Goolsby noted.

“We are basically floating out here and I’ve got cows in fields that don’t have a dry place to lay down,” he said. The rainy weather has hampered efforts to build a new free-stall barn, which will get the cows out of the fields.

The rainfall at the dairy farm on Arbuckle Creek Road has been significantly higher than the rainfall at his home on Lake Jackson, Goolsby said. From Sept. 19 through Sept. 26 he recorded more than 12 inches of rain at the dairy, while he believes about 5 to 6 inches fell at his home.

A few of his animals have died from exhaustion after getting stuck in the mud, he said. “When you have a 1,200 pound animal sinking up past their knees up to their belly in mud trying to walk around, it’s rough on them.”

Also, tractors have been getting stuck in the mud requiring extra work to extricate them, Goolsby said.

The frequent storms have produced “fierce lightening,” but he hasn’t lost any animals to lightening strikes, he said.

“We definitely need a little dry period out here,” Goolsby added.

Wabasso Road Dairy owner Dennis Coulter said the rain has caused harvesting and planting problems so he has been buying more supplemental feed than usual.

“It has been extremely wet,” he said. “Now we normally plant a fall crop [of corn], but it is in danger.”

Coulter has not lost any animals due to the weather, but he believes there has been a little loss in milk production due to the high humidity, which stresses the cows.

The rain has halted activity at the Duda Lake Placid Sod Farm on Old Parker Island Road.

“Last week we didn’t do anything,” said Anita Gamez, the farm’s sod coordinator. “Basically, all the sod is underwater.”

She couldn’t estimate when the sod fields will drain.

So far it is not looking good this week, Gamez said. “We will just have to wait and see.”

But, other sectors of agriculture in the county have not experienced serious problems from the wet weather.

Highlands County Citrus Growers Association Executive Director Ray Royce said citrus has benefited from the recent rains.

“There might be some flat-woods groves down off the ridge that are having to deal with the challenges of the rainfall levels we have had over the last several weeks,” he said. “But, for the most part, we are very appreciative to getting the rainfall that we are.”

The rain can disrupt some of the production practices that are going on and it can help create fungal problems, but overall the growers appreciate the rainfall because it cannot be replicated with irrigation, Royce said.

Don Bates of Bates Sons & Daughters Caladiums, Lake Placid, said the rains have been very helpful.

“The caladiums in general look better than they have all year,” he said. “Too much rain could cause us some harm if it doesn’t drain off well.”

Thus far there have not been any 4- or 5-inch rains on the caladium fields, Bates said. “As long as they stay in the half to one-and-a-half inch range, I think we are in great shape.”

Harvesting will start around the first of November, he noted.

Source - http://highlandstoday.com/