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.

In a Flap Over Ducks

Its been in the news the past couple of days. Certainly not great timing for any organization to put out an ad blaming farmers and their draining land for flooding problems elsewhere. But that is what Ducks Unlimited apparently has done.  It has stirred up angry reactions from farmers on the Western Producer site  Not surprising at all. We are losing acres to flooding here every year. Roads have been built up and flooded again as the water table continues to rise. Pumps running 24/7 in some areas to bring the levels down on some of the municipal roads.
No question we have always known this is "pothole country" and we grow a lot of ducks for that reason. We have always been used to farming around the sloughs but recent years have expanded those potholes into small lakes in some cases. We are farming the high spots while some very productive land lies under water or growing cat tails. Dreams of next year getting back to "normal" don't come true and the water just keeps increasing.

 In other news, tried a sample of wheat today and it tested over 18% moisture so I parked the combine and went back to bale hauling. Beautiful day, just not dry enough to combine yet. Man, those fields are wetter than ever since the last rain. Ducks should be happy.