Tyler Ribeiro is a fourth generation dairy farmer in Tulare County, California. He is no stranger to water woes, but usually it’s a lack of water that keeps him up at night. However over the last two weeks that has changed as his area has been inundated with flood waters. While the Ribeiro farm is ok, Tyler shares that farms in his neighborhood are not.
After a long drought, farmers in central California were excited to see winter coming to an end with a strong snowpack in the mountains. However, early heat waves combined with rain quickly turned that snowpack back into water, lots of water, that came down the mountains and washed away roads and flooded fields and farms. The man made lake and river system in the area was holding almost double the highest limit they were designed for. The rivers broke in several spots and Tyler says the water rose so quickly that areas went from dry to under feet of water in just a matter of hours.
@cadairydad Drone view of the North Tule River Break #california #flood #update #farmlife ♬ piano(959505) – Na Music
The only thing stronger than the rushing water was the strength of the local community. Tyler says every piece of heavy equipment and every cattle trailer in the area was soon working at moving water out or cows to higher ground. He says one farm that housed Jersey cows remodeled their barns overnight to fit the larger Holsteins of another local farmer. Tyler points out none of the cost will likely be recovered, but still nobody blinked an eye when help was needed.
The onslaught of water is starting to slow now. Sandbagging and whatever repairs can be made to redirect the water to where it should be has started. Tyler says now the questions farmers face is what will be uncovered in their fields. Spring crops like wheat were being grown to hopefully have quick feed for dairy farms that have been struggling to find or afford feed as the drought had left many fields fallow. That crop may now be lost and there is no telling what the water left behind that could hinder replanting.
If you would like to follow more of this story, you can find Tyler on social media as CaDairyDad.
@cadairydad #update there is alot of water #flood #california ♬ original sound – cadairydad
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