Clean up continues for farm, ranch storm victims

By Holly Martin

and Jennifer M. Latzke

More than seven days have passed since the weekend storms in central Kansas, but the destructive path remains. Irrigation systems are toppled, fields are littered with debris and pastures and fields are under water. Reality is settling in.

"There's just so much to do," said Dan Filbert, a Macksville area crop consultant.

And while the town of Greensburg was nearly wiped off of the map, the storms did just as much destruction in the rural areas of the state.

"I have clients that have lost their homes, shops, farm equipment and fences," Filbert said. "It is just a lot for them to handle."

There are places, he says, where the track from the tornados is three miles wide, a combination of several tornados over a two-day period.

It is encouraging to see neighbors helping neighbors, Filbert said, but the problem is that so many people's neighbors were also affected.

In Stafford County, neighbors began helping neighbors as soon as the storm winds died down.

"We've had a lot of volunteers helping," said Michelle Huston, volunteer coordinator for Stafford County Emergency Management. "We had somewhere around 500 volunteers over the first weekend, and that many last week and we expect that many this coming weekend." And, "neighbor" takes on a whole new meaning when you consider that the volunteers are coming from as far away as Manhattan and the Kansas City area, as well as from Colorado and Louisiana.

"Some areas will be cleaned up in a week and a half to two weeks," Huston said. "Others it will take several months."

Crop damage

Crop damage is still being determined, say area crop consultants.

Much of the wheat in the area that was affected by the storm also was hit with a freeze just a few weeks before.

"We are seeing varying degrees of damage," said Filbert. In some places near the epicenter, the wheat head was simply pulled out of the plant. "People were talking about having heads of wheat laying in their yards."

Other fields have obviously been damaged by hail, but most of the wheat ground is more difficult to assess. Freeze damage has weakened the stems, and then the snow bent it over. Now there are foliar diseases.

Thecornground fared better, most experts think. Some fields had just been planted and others were not planted yet.

Right in the path of the tornado, that was not the case. "Where the tornado went across directly, thecornwas virtually pulled out of the ground," said Farrell Allison, division manager for Crop Quest.

Some of that will have to be replanted if they can find the seed to do so.

But what has been the biggest immediate problem forcornground has been the rain, up to 10 to 12 inches in parts of the state where annual rainfall is normally 22 inches.

"Some of those fields are still under water," said Allison on May 14. "Now the main thing is just getting dry enough to get back in to plant."

John Janssen, who is an accountant and a farmer in Greensburg, said most of his farm ground was spared much damage, but the water has also been the biggest problem for him. "I don't think we have ever moved as many times, trying to find some place dry to plant."

Part of the equipment he owned with another farmer was south of town and was destroyed.

Irrigation systems were the equipment that took the toll in fields all the way from south of Greensburg up to Great Bend.

Estimates of numbers of systems that were damaged range from 150 on up to 300.

"We have 87 machines on our 'fix' list," said Terry Ioerger, sales and service consultant for Ag Systems, based out of Larned.

"Thecornus up to about 3 or 5 inches," Ioerger said. "So we have about a three to four week window to get something done."

But there are a limited number of hours in the day and a limited amount of equipment that they can get from Valmont, he said. "They can't make more. They are running at full speed. It is only through the generosity of other dealers that we are able to get some of these machines up and running."

What is helping is that farmers are doing what they can to save the irrigation crews time, Ioerger said. "They are trying to get them set back up in the air or drag them to the ditch for us."

Every little bit helps.

"I hope in two or three weeks we are going to have a real good start to get things back where they need to be, but by no stretch will we be able to have everything done," he said.

And many producers are facing the additional reality that they were underinsured on their irrigation systems, said Filbert.

"The price of irrigation systems has gone up so much that they just weren't prepared," he said. This is an expense they weren't prepared for and the price of the equipment isn't going down.

Businesses are coming back

Both Janssen and Allison lived in Greensburg and lost their homes. But, they both were optimistic that the community will be back to support area farmers.

Janssen is also a city councilman and was a part of a meeting on May 15 where 52 businesses pledged they would rebuild in Greensburg.

"That's good news for farmers," he said. "Because the business loss in town can be phenomenal to a local farmer."

One of those businesses is Southern Plains Cooperative who has a main branch in Greensburg and began construction on a new office facility only 10 days after the tornado.

"We are 105 years old and we aren't going anywhere," said Ron Gruber, president and general manager. He said the co-op was already up and running on May 15 on a limited basis.

The elevator had lots of damage to the windows, legs, dryers and dust collecting system but the main elevators had no structural damage.

"We are running on a temporary generator right now and are running a temporary office," Gruber said.

They are running the liquid fertilizer plant and have a limited amount of feed and fencing equipment on hand. Gruber says he also expects the rail service to be back this week.

Challenges ahead

So while Greensburg area farmers will have their local cooperative back up and running, one of the biggest immediate challenges to farmers all over the area will be getting debris picked up out of their fields as soon as possible. wheat will need to be cut in just a few weeks andcornwill soon be too tall to be able to easily see the debris.

"There is debris for miles, not just where the storm hit," Filbert said. He has seen wreckage as far away as seven or eight miles out of the storm track.

So far, Huston has a two-page list of 36 known farms and ranches in the Stafford county area that need help. Glenn Newdigger, Stafford County Extension agent estimated that 147 pivots, covering 23,500 acres, were lost to the storm.

Since the storm, Newdigger estimated about 200 cattle were killed in Stafford county. In an average year, Newdigger said the county has about 12,000 head of cows, and 53,000 head of stocker cattle. "Those who didn't lose cattle have had fences affected," he said.

More reports keep coming in as people continue their recovery efforts. Destroyed fences mean cattle are mixed together and no one has an idea how many have been lost.

"There are miles of fence line down and those cattle have to all be sorted out," Filbert said.

David Cross, Lewis, Kan., is the current president of the Kansas Livestock Association. While he had no property affected in the storms, he's been spearheading the recovery efforts from KLA.

Immediately following the storms, the Livestock Marketing Association donated $15,000 worth of fencing supplies to the Macksville area livestock producers. But there are many more fences that need to be rebuilt. KLA, in combination with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association has donated another $10,000 in fencing supplies this week, supplied by Tucker Farm and Supply, Kiowa, Kan. Those will be handed out Friday, May 18, at the Pratt Livestock Inc., in Pratt, Kan. TCFA's donation was from its leftover Hurricane Katrina fund.

"We're just trying to determine who needs it the most," Cross said. "It's tough making contact with those who need it, though, because some don't have telephones since the storm."

Fence building and cattle sorting are priorities right now. An FFA chapter out of northwest Kansas has made plans to come out June 1 and build fence for ranchers affected.

Additionally, while every volunteer willing to help clean up debris is appreciated, the clean up crews also need large equipment to aid the efforts.

"We really need people with high end loaders, and dump trucks to move large trees and dig holes," Huston said. She added that without the large equipment volunteers are still getting the job done.

Right now, any resources would be welcome, Huston said. Besides the need for large equipment to handle debris, other needs include money for fuel to run generators and vehicles to aid in the efforts and sunscreen and work gloves for volunteers. "Anything people are willing to donate is helping us," she said.

"We're doing a good job with what we've accomplished," Huston said. "I couldn't begin to tell you how much debris we've moved, but it's been a lot. Mostly with the trees and other debris people are digging pits on their property to collect it and burn at a later date. Some of it is going to landfills. With the dead animals, we're having to dig holes and bury them on the property where they're are."

As Filbert has been out checking the fields of his clients, he has tried to take his four-wheeler and pick up as much debris as possible.

"I tell you--it's tough," he said.

In one field he found a page out of a children's Bible. "You get tears in your eyes when you see that. It mean's someone's life was destroyed."

Holly Martin and Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com and jlatzke@hpj.com.

To donate, or to volunteer, contact Michelle Huston in Stafford County at 620-797-0337, or at 620-549-3765. Contractors wishing to provide services can also call 1-888-413-4327, according to Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, Kansas adjutant general and director of Kansas Emergency Management.

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5/21/07

4 Star NE

Date: 5/17/07

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