The challenges that face the Golden State have quickly changed from drought to massive flooding and played havoc with the central California agriculture landscape. This has forced several dairies in Tulare County to move their cattle to higher ground.
Kevin Abernathy, general manager for Milk Producers Council, recently told AgriTalk’s host, Chip Flory, that so many Californians are banning together to help with the water crisis and help relocate dairies.
“I am never more amazed and humbled at the triage that California dairy families do when we come across crises like this,” he says. “We have basically brought in construction companies and equipment on the site, as we built five-to-eight-foot moats around facilities.”
California has had to relocate thousands upon thousands of cattle, as well as feed. Abernathy shared that one 15,000-cow dairy had to move 3,500 heifers off a feedlot, as well as 27 truckloads of feed away from the impacted area. Additionally, this farm has 3,000 acres of winter forage wheat crop under water.
“We haven’t had to experience this since the mid-80s,” Abernathy said. “And we didn’t have the dairy population in the Tulare and Kings Basin at that point.”
In an all-out effort, the operators must think long term and what their dairies will look like after the flooding recedes. Abernathy recommends that producers keep track of receipts and document their losses. With Governor Newsome, Secretary Vilsack and President Biden declaring an emergency in the majority of California’s counties, Abernathy says this starts the process to start assessing the scope and brevity.
The No. 1 thing that Abernathy says needs to happen in central California is the water must recede.
“Secondly, we need to shore up the breaches and so forth, and we need to protect our cows and we need to protect people,” he says.
To listen to the AgriTalk segment with Abernathy in its entirety, click on:
https://omny.fm/shows/agritalk/agritalk-3-23-23-kevin-abernathy
For more California flooding stories:
- California Dairy Farmers Prayed for Rain – Now It’s Forcing Some to Evacuate
- California Flooding Forces Dairies to Move to Higher Ground
