Heavy Rains and Flooding Affecting Livestock

Jan 07, 2020

By Justin Miller

Heavy rains in Alabama are causing headaches for livestock producers. Producers may need to make changes to ensure their livestock get an adequate diet while pastures are saturated with recent rainfall.

Landon Marks, a regional animal science and forages agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said livestock producers should consider adding more hay or feed feeding sites.

“This reduces competition around feeding areas,” Marks said. “It will allow all cattle to receive appropriate nutrition.”

Nutrition

Kim Mullenix, an Alabama Extension animal science specialist, said an animal’s energy requirements differ during heavy rains and flooding.

“Energy requirements of animals rise due to an increase in their maintenance requirements,” Mullenix said. “Extra energy is expended trying to get out of water, walk in mud, etc.”

Mullenix suggests that producers follow the steps listed below to ensure that their livestock are receiving the proper nutrition during this time.

Supplement cattle with a high energy, easily digestible feed for 3 to 5 days after being moved to higher ground to help rebuild their energy reserves. Also, provide free-choice hay or adequate pasture along with supplementation.

Provide a complete mineral supplement containing calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals such as copper, zinc, and selenium. Calcium and phosphorus are the minerals needed in the largest amounts by beef cattle. Mineral supplementation is especially important given the elevated level of stress for cattle during this time.

“Adequate nutrition is needed to support proper immune function, and will help cattle respond better should vaccinations be needed,” Mullenix said.

Hay

hay in flood watersLeanne Dillard, an Alabama Extension forages specialist, said even if hay was not submerged in water, heavy rains will likely decrease the quality of hay stored outside or on the ground.

“Hay that is submerged by as little as 1 ft., has little usable forage remaining,” Dillard said. “The amount of rotted hay, mold and possible contaminants in flooded hay, make it of little value and a potential hazard to livestock.”

According to Dillard, hay that has been submerged in less than 1 ft. of water may have some useable forage.

“Producers should use this hay with caution and should only be fed to cattle,” Dillard said. “Feed the dry hay, but do not force the cattle to consume the wet and rotting portion of the bale.”

If hay in storage barn was flooded, it should be removed as soon as possible. This hay will begin to heat which creates the possibility of spontaneous combustion. Hay that is not fit for livestock should be disposed of by burning or compositing.

Pasture

Mullenix said there are a few steps producers can take to minimize the damage to pasture and the creation of mud.

Identify areas in the pasture that are well-drained and tend to dry out faster when feeding hay.
When checking cattle, minimize vehicle traffic. Use smaller vehicles such as an ATV, etc. or check cattle on foot where possible.
Setting out round bales prior to feeding on firm ground, then fencing them off with electric fence and moving to new bales as needed one-by-one may be a way to reduce mud. Several trials have noted that this works especially well in stockpiled fields where cattle can both graze and eat hay as needed.

Source : aces.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.