The photos below are of the flood at Michael Pfitzner’s, and his neighbours, between Griffith and Rankins Springs, (along with a bogged boomspray from Richard Langley's Greenethorpe property), indicating some of the challenges facing our farmers as a result of some of the unusual rain events of recent months (bogged boomsprays being one of them). In what is considered a marginal cropping area, well away from any river system, this amount of water entering a property has the potential to cause untold damage, both short and long term.
1. The erosive potential of clean, quick moving water is immense. The soft friable soil created by no-till farming systems, if exposed, could be easily eroded by this amount of water.2. What has this upstream water brought onto the farm? Herbicide residues, (herbicide resistant) weed seeds, crop and pasture residue and eroded soil could all be carried by this water and deposited onto cropping country creating both short-term and long-term impacts.
3. Soil and residue deposited onto paddocks in “fans” can also create topographical changes which can impact on subsequent cultural operations, especially in a controlled traffic farming system in defined traffic rows.
4. Damage to both property boundary and internal fences can also be substantial. If stock is present, the necessity to fix these fences for stock control is paramount.
5. The damage done by stock randomly trafficking these paddocks on soils close to their plastic limit is also immense.
Let us know what’s happening on your place post-flooding and how it’s impacting on your winter cropping program. Comment below.
