Farmers prepare for hurricane season

As everyone in North Carolina starts to prepare for hurricane season, the farmers here in Sampson County have their own things to worry about.

Zachary Parker, an extension agent for agriculture - field crops at NC Cooperative Extension, said while it’s “business as usual,” on every farm, there are still things that farmers have to think about when it comes to dealing with hurricanes.

Mainly, having their crops insured along with their property, he stressed.

Andy Herring from Andy Herring Farm Inc. said that farmers use crop insurance through the end of December, but that they can also have the fairly new option of tropical storm/hurricane insurance.

“In the last few years, we’ve been able to add hurricane and tropical storm insurance,” Herring said. “That’s a fairly new item for us. We also had wind and hail damage and coverage, and things like that. But the hurricane insurance is a fairly new addition. And it works pretty well when you need it.”

Herring went on to say that the most important thing that farmers can do to stay prepared beyond having insurance is to keep an eye on the weather and listen to the meteorologists. He said that with enough warning, farmers can make sure that everything is tied down and properly put away.

“Usually, hurricanes are a week or several days away, so we have some time to prepare and pick things up, put them away and make sure everything’s tied down,” he pointed out.

Parker mentioned that for field crop agents they could be called out after a hurricane to see the damages left on the farm. He said that they will talk to the farmers about whether to replant the crops, or to call it a total loss.

But what about farmers who focus on livestock? How do they prepare for hurricanes?

Paul Gonzalez, an extension agent for agriculture - livestock, at NC Cooperative Extension, said it’s different for livestock farmers.

Instead of focusing on insurance, they have to focus on keeping their animals safe and contained.

According to Gonzalez, this means checking the fences to ensure animals like cattle and horses are safely inside, checking the generators to make sure they’re working for livestock that lives in buildings like poultry and hogs, and making sure they don’t escape if a fence does get damaged.

“With beef cattle and horses, we typically recommend you go around and just, if you see limbs or something you think might take the fence down, kind of clean up around the fence to prevent any problems so they don’t get torn down and animals get out,” Gonzalez said.

He mentioned that if there’s no power there isn’t much you can do to power up the fence, but it will at least keep the animals inside until they either get “really hungry or they figure out there’s no power on it.”

“If they’re in a lower spot, we recommend moving them to a higher pasture or getting them out of flood-prone areas beforehand,” Gonzalez added.

Herring, who raises turkey’s alongside of managing crops, mentioned that for him, the most important thing is to make sure that his back-up generator is ready to use so that he can ensure his turkeys are getting the care hey need.

“Our biggest thing is to check for our backup generator over at our turkey (houses),” Herring explained. “We always have to do that, make sure all our equipment over there is up to speed and ready to go and full of fuel and verify that it’s operable and things like that.”

He stressed that the most critical thing in the event of a power outage at his home is making sure the wellbeing of the animals is taken care of.

“We keep our on-site generator ready to go all year long, but especially during hurricane season we tend to top up with fuel and make sure everything’s ready to go on our backup supply of power,” he said.

Other than these basic things, Gonzalez said there isn’t much else that the extension service or the farmers can do to prepare for hurricane season.

But afterwards, if they need help, the cooperative can give them the numbers to different organizations to help them move their animals or get the food that they need.

“We’ll have some emergency contact numbers if they need them, and we get more involved afterwards as far as helping with the response,” Gonzalez said. “[We] hook them up with NCDA that might have some hay donations, or if we know people that have hay donations if they need it, or folks with trailers who can help haul animals out that need to get them out of flooded areas.”

He mentioned that in the past there were agents who would also help distribute feed and hay for the animals, but it depends on the county and what needs they need.