Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WURNO LENGTH: Medium
"You'd like to get one good rainstorm a week - and on Sunday at that," said Farrier, a part-time farmer in Giles County.
Farmers, who usually welcome afternoon showers as a brief respite from working in the summer heat, have gotten more than their usual share of rain this summer.
It's helped the corn and berries - and weeds - but hurt the hay and left some gardens flattened where it's fallen the hardest.
Last month, 6.46 inches of rain fell in Blacksburg. The norm for June is 3.35 inches, according to the National Weather Service's Blacksburg office.
Now, farmers say they're ready for a break so they can catch up on their work and clean up after Mother Nature, who has dumped water on parts of the New River Valley almost daily.
Malcolm Boothe, a Pulaski County cattle farmer who lives in Wurno, can blame the weather for the fix he's in.
Rainwater from the mountains above Boothe's property found its way into a small creek on his 400-acre farm. The creek normally runs in a 4-foot channel about 2 feet deep.
The runoff flooded the little creek and wiped out fencing along 250 acres of land used for a cattle pasture. Boothe said he moved about 200 of his 700 cattle to another part of the farm.
"We were fortunate to get everything taken care of before we had any mishaps," Boothe said.
He says he's waiting for the water to recede and the ground to dry so he can mend the fence. For now, his cattle bide their time in tighter quarters.
The consensus among area farmers, including Boothe, is that the rain has interfered with getting up the year's first crop of hay.
Charles Wimmer of S.G. Wimmer & Son, a farm supply store in Christiansburg, reported an increase in the sale of hay tedders, devices used to turn over hay that's on the ground so it will dry faster.
"When it's dry, you can't give 'em away," Wimmer said.
Floyd County farmers Robert and Brenda Poff managed to cut a 14-acre field of hay before the rains started, Brenda Poff said.
Unfortunately, they didn't get the hay baled and stored before it got wet. The hay rotted, and the Poffs still had to clear it off the ground to allow the late-season crop to grow.
Another 24 acres of hay hasn't been cut yet, and it's doubtful there will be much worth salvaging.
She said they'll feed the rain-damaged hay to cattle in the early fall while there's still grass to eat. The hay alone may not have the nutritients the cattle need, she said.
The story is much the same in Riner where Randolph Altizer said the rain spoiled about 50 bales - enough to feed 15 beef cattle through the winter. He's not worried, though, because he has extra hay stored away.
He's also noticed his dairy cattle haven't been producing as much milk lately.
"I don't know what does it to them," he said. "Maybe they eat when it's sunny."
Another Riner dairy farmer, Jerry Horton, says milk production falls off when the humidity goes up, as it has the past few weeks.
But Horton says he can't really complain about the recent weather.
"Most farmers like it to rain," he said. "It's a lot better than the other way around."
Horton and Altizer grow corn and the rain has been good for their crop, but it's also helped the weed population.
Altizer sprayed his crops recently and the rain washed away most of the pesticides.
Now, he'll have to spray the corn again at a cost of $20 per acre, Altizer said.
But they couldn't be happier at Mary and Gary Midkiff's pick-your-own berry farm in the Rich Creek section of Giles County.
Midkiff says they're offering a bumper crop of blueberries - maybe the best since the farm reaped its first crop in 1983. Their season officially opened June 26.
"I guess it's just an exceptional year," she said.
Most farmers said they're thankful they escaped torrential rains that might have caused more extensive damage.
"We've kind of dodged all the gully washers, except for maybe just one," Farrier said.
by CNB