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Roosty6 @B110

Saturday, March 12, 2016

More Ducks

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against ducks. This area has been their home forever and many ducks are raised on the sloughs every year. Sloughs are a fact of life that we have learned to live with and farm around.
I was a little amazed to read this info at the Ducks Unlimited site stating that we are losing duck habitat every year and need to do something about stopping it. Nothing could be further from the truth in this area at present. For the past few years of excess rainfall all our duck raising sloughs have been growing and extending ever further onto what was formerly good crop growing land. Close to half the acres on some quarters are now only producing bulrushes and ducks. Many back roads are under water and impassable. Some roads have required building up to stay above water level and keep traffic flowing.
I'm not looking to drain every slough and farm every acre. Just keep those sloughs down to their original size and not flood the cultivated land.
There is talk of unauthorized draining happening. Legally you require a permit to do any water diverting but it is a slow process from what I hear. If the dry trend of the past few months continues into summer we might see the water levels receding and wishing for rain for the crops.
This photo from April 25 of 2011 shows some of the water we are dealing with. My hundred acre quarter is lucky to see 65 acres seeded.

2 comments:

  1. Truth often gets inconvenient when fund-raising.

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  2. Ducks Unlimited is not your friend. You can usually tell if a person is an arse-hole by the size of the Ducks Unlimited sticker in rear window.
    Just my opinion drawn from personal observations.
    However, if you get a chance to take their money I'd think about it. Read the contract first.

    ReplyDelete