2 tips for keeping your farm supplies and equipment safe during a flood
If a bout of heavy rain is due to occur in the area where your farm is located, and you expect this rain to flood your farm, here are some steps you can take to keep your farm supplies and equipment safe during this period.
1. Bring your stock feed containers indoors
Stock feed must be kept dry. If the floodwater reaches your stock feed bins and comes into contact with their contents, it will inevitably lead to the growth of microbes that will cause the food to turn into rancid mush. As such, if you suspect that your farm may end up being flooded soon, it is crucial to protect your stock feed.
First and foremost, make sure that any stock feed bins that are currently located outdoors are transferred to an indoor location (such as a shed or a garage on your property). This will ensure that falling raindrops don't seep into any openings in the bins. Once the bins are indoors, the next step is to raise them off the ground; this can be done by laying bricks or timber pallets underneath the bins' bases. Doing this will ensure that even if the floodwater gets into the shed or garage, it will not splash against the lower sections of the bins.
If the bins are too large and heavy to place on bricks or pallets, the next best thing you can do to protect the stock feed inside them is to lay sandbags around their bases. These bags will absorb most of the water if the room where the bins are located ends up being flooded.
2. Put your tractor on a slope or on the top of a hill
If possible, you should park your tractor on a slope or at the top of a hill and leave it there for the duration of the flood. The reason for this is that if you leave your tractor on level ground, it is very likely that the floodwater will saturate the machinery.
This could not only damage its electrical wiring and contaminate important fluids (such as the brake fluid and engine oil) but could also lead to the corrosion of many of the tractor's essential metal components. Having this damage fixed and having the corroded parts replaced could be extremely expensive. Furthermore, whilst this work is being carried out, you may not be able to perform many of the day-to-day activities around your farm that require the use of this equipment.
However, you can prevent this from happening by parking your tractor on top of a hill or a slope; this will ensure that any water that lands near this machinery will flow downwards, away from it, before it can inflict any damage.
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