Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Farmers livestock in jeopardy as waters rise
 |
| Longtime Hazleton farmer Marvin Stanek could see his stock cows in trouble Sunday in his east pasture, but there was little he could do except hope their instincts would make them swim to higher ground. |
HAZLETON – Like all of us in the area, Marvin and Jeanette Stanek went to bed Saturday night in the midst of severe thunderstorm and flash-flood warnings. But when the Staneks looked out their east window Sunday morning, they found rising waters of Otter Creek were doing more than just flooding farmland. The Staneks herd of stock cows with calves at side was stranded on a small swatch of pasture, completely surrounded by swirling flood waters.
"It's the kind of picture that gives you ulcers," Marvin said Sunday afternoon as he looked across the bottomland at the 26 cows and their babies marooned on their little patch of pasture. "The creek has been up like this for awhile and they usually come across."
Stanek, a retired farmer, has raised small herds of stock cows for several years. Over the more than 35 years he has lived at the farm on 110th Street just off Highway 150 on the first gravel road north of Hazleton, he has lost a few calves when the creek flooded its banks and the little critters couldn't buck the current. But this time he thinks he may lose more than a couple animals.
"That little patch of ground keeps getting smaller and smaller," he observed. "When the water gets under the bellies of the calves, they'll float away if they don't have the strength to swim to a higher place."
Stanek said he had hoped the creek level would have receded a little by now, but practically nonstop rain for more than a day has dashed those hopes. He figured at a sale barn a cow/calf pair would fetch between $1,400 and $1,500. Only a couple of his cows were still waiting to calf, so he is looking at property valued at approximately $35,000. He said the only hope he has left is that the cows will choose to swim east through a gate in the half submerged fence and up toward higher ground. He thinks even the little ones could survive that route. But if instincts make them turn toward home to the west of their "island," survival chances are slim.
"I've lost three calves so far this year," Stanek said noting it's been a pretty tough spring. With hay costing between $175 and $200 per ton, he's looking at a pretty big investment about to float downstream.
"If they make it through this one, I think I'm done raising stock cows," said Stanek. "I'm 74 and I don't think I'll do this again. I'll just turn those acres over into the flood plain program like they should be."
In Fairbank, everyone's eyes are watching the Wapsie. At Costa's bar and restaurant, sandbags are stacked on pallets in readiness. The Wapsipinicon River that flows through the center of town has already submerged Island Park and the small park area off its western bank. Costa's, just back of the east bank, has been threatened before.
At the city's garage on Main Street, City Utility Superintendent Ted Vorwald stood in the doorway with cell phone to his ear. Strong horizontal winds or a small tornado went through the rural area between Fairbank and Oelwein shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, knocking down three or four power poles along 30th Street near the R.W. Miller farm. The lines snapped and shut off power to Fairbank.
"We were keeping up pretty well until that happened," Vorwald said. "Now water will start backing up in people's basements without the sump pumps running."
He turned to send a portable pumping unit with one of his crew to the Methodist Church, where more than four inches of water was already reported in the basement.
"We're doing everything we can," Vorwald said. "Fortunately, nobody in town in on oxygen right now," he added.
Vorwald said they had been watching the Wapsie pretty closely and it had only come up a few inches. That was until Sunday afternoon when more than an inch of rain pummeled the area in about 10 minutes. Some of his spotters had driven north toward Sumner and reported there was a big wall of water heading downstream.
He hoped the power trouble would be short-lived. A second call to Alliant gave assurance that utility workers were trying to restore power by rerouting through Hazleton. Employees were summoned from Decorah to help with the situation.
The high winds or small tornado ripped northeast taking out tree branches and power poles near Millers, a grain bin at John Puff's farm, trees at the Oelwein Airport and ripping off the back porch at Judy Witte's home two-and-a-half miles west of Oelwein on 40th Street.
"It's the kind of picture that gives you ulcers," Marvin said Sunday afternoon as he looked across the bottomland at the 26 cows and their babies marooned on their little patch of pasture. "The creek has been up like this for awhile and they usually come across."
Stanek, a retired farmer, has raised small herds of stock cows for several years. Over the more than 35 years he has lived at the farm on 110th Street just off Highway 150 on the first gravel road north of Hazleton, he has lost a few calves when the creek flooded its banks and the little critters couldn't buck the current. But this time he thinks he may lose more than a couple animals.
"That little patch of ground keeps getting smaller and smaller," he observed. "When the water gets under the bellies of the calves, they'll float away if they don't have the strength to swim to a higher place."
Stanek said he had hoped the creek level would have receded a little by now, but practically nonstop rain for more than a day has dashed those hopes. He figured at a sale barn a cow/calf pair would fetch between $1,400 and $1,500. Only a couple of his cows were still waiting to calf, so he is looking at property valued at approximately $35,000. He said the only hope he has left is that the cows will choose to swim east through a gate in the half submerged fence and up toward higher ground. He thinks even the little ones could survive that route. But if instincts make them turn toward home to the west of their "island," survival chances are slim.
"I've lost three calves so far this year," Stanek said noting it's been a pretty tough spring. With hay costing between $175 and $200 per ton, he's looking at a pretty big investment about to float downstream.
"If they make it through this one, I think I'm done raising stock cows," said Stanek. "I'm 74 and I don't think I'll do this again. I'll just turn those acres over into the flood plain program like they should be."
In Fairbank, everyone's eyes are watching the Wapsie. At Costa's bar and restaurant, sandbags are stacked on pallets in readiness. The Wapsipinicon River that flows through the center of town has already submerged Island Park and the small park area off its western bank. Costa's, just back of the east bank, has been threatened before.
At the city's garage on Main Street, City Utility Superintendent Ted Vorwald stood in the doorway with cell phone to his ear. Strong horizontal winds or a small tornado went through the rural area between Fairbank and Oelwein shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, knocking down three or four power poles along 30th Street near the R.W. Miller farm. The lines snapped and shut off power to Fairbank.
"We were keeping up pretty well until that happened," Vorwald said. "Now water will start backing up in people's basements without the sump pumps running."
He turned to send a portable pumping unit with one of his crew to the Methodist Church, where more than four inches of water was already reported in the basement.
"We're doing everything we can," Vorwald said. "Fortunately, nobody in town in on oxygen right now," he added.
Vorwald said they had been watching the Wapsie pretty closely and it had only come up a few inches. That was until Sunday afternoon when more than an inch of rain pummeled the area in about 10 minutes. Some of his spotters had driven north toward Sumner and reported there was a big wall of water heading downstream.
He hoped the power trouble would be short-lived. A second call to Alliant gave assurance that utility workers were trying to restore power by rerouting through Hazleton. Employees were summoned from Decorah to help with the situation.
The high winds or small tornado ripped northeast taking out tree branches and power poles near Millers, a grain bin at John Puff's farm, trees at the Oelwein Airport and ripping off the back porch at Judy Witte's home two-and-a-half miles west of Oelwein on 40th Street.
 |
 |
|
| Republicans to re-convene June 24 | City takes issue with storefronts |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of communitynewspapergroup.com.
