There are several considerations when dealing with the aftermath of a flood. Below is a list of things to do and/or consider:
Care of cattle:
- Ensure access to clean drinking water for cattle
- Find dry, higher ground, perhaps provide hay and bedded
- Inventory death loss and condition of live cattle: make sure to document loss
- Inventory fuel supply for equipment, particularly for hauling cattle or feeding
- Consider power needs (if needed, particularly for feedyards)
Feed supplies:
- If shipping in feeds is routine (feedyards), can byproducts and feed supplements be delivered?
- Inventory feed supplies: grain, forages, byproducts, supplements (Calcium is a most crucial requirement in high-grain diets.)
- If forage-fed cattle, mineral supplement needs may not be as dire for a few days.
- Can cattle get to feed? Is delivery impacted if using equipment?
- If feed supplies are short, need to forecast dates that supply runs out and make ration modifications. *Caution is needed in feedyards with rapid changes in grain amounts in the diet. But, major shifts in byproduct inclusions may be required.
For feedyards:
- Clean water diversion around feeding and manure storage areas
- Inspect damage to runoff control containment facility; make sure to document damage
- Inspect integrity of holding pond and erosion of earthen berms impacting integrity of structure
- Water ways for collecting feedlot runoff and diverting to holding pond
- Solids settling basin
- Pond level…risk of overflow?
- Return pond levels to where there is room to handle next 5 to 6 inch rain (25 year,24 hour storm)
- Locate land application site for excess runoff in holding ponds
- Are there fields to which holding pond water can be pumped, like permanently vegetative fields (e.g. pasture, alfalfa), “high-residue” crop fields (e.g. no-till fields in corn), flatter fields with low risk of runoff and flooding?
- Occurrence of overflow to report to NDEQ