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North MO Drought

I've really been worried about the drought here in Randolph County for my food plots. They are looking okay considering the conditions, but my real fear now is EHD. Every day I check the weather multiple times and you guys up in IA are getting showers every other day it seems like.
I have not gotten measurable rain at the farm since May 20th :(
Forecast is finally looking better and we should get a shot this evening and over the next week. I hope its just not too little too late for yields and more importantly EHD. Send a few up to the big guy for us down here :D
 
Same thing we are dealing with here in SOMO. They say rain is coming...we need it bad. Nothing like planting beans and only getting 1 rain since....
 
Southern Iowa was bone dry last summer and I didn’t hear of any severe ehd outbreaks, didn’t find any on my farm and neither did any of my neighbors. Hopefully the deer are building up a resistance. Hopefully you guys get some rain, sure sucks looking at the same aggravating forecast day after day.
 
Southern Iowa was bone dry last summer and I didn’t hear of any severe ehd outbreaks, didn’t find any on my farm and neither did any of my neighbors. Hopefully the deer are building up a resistance. Hopefully you guys get some rain, sure sucks looking at the same aggravating forecast day after day.

I'm convinced we were too dry to make mud last year. I subscribe to the theory that a severe drought is better than a moderate drought for purposes of EHD prevention. Certainly not for plants though!

Northern MO seemed to get all the rain last summer while it missed Iowa. This year has been the opposite.... but it's raining as I type this for Iowa and northern MO!!
 
I'm convinced we were too dry to make mud last year. I subscribe to the theory that a severe drought is better than a moderate drought for purposes of EHD prevention. Certainly not for plants though!

Northern MO seemed to get all the rain last summer while it missed Iowa. This year has been the opposite.... but it's raining as I type this for Iowa and northern MO!!
.40 at the office so far in N MO, surely we can't miss a little more this week with HIGH % chances a few days! :)
 
https://www.iowawhitetail.com/forum...ion-quest-for-info-to-combat-ehd-ticks.55931/

A little history & thought above. I’ve watched this cycle where I’ve “followed, tracked & paid attention to cycles” for 15+ years now. Guessing.
So.... my 2 main pockets of farms are 7-8 miles apart. BOTH had very little EHD in 2012 & 2103 for example. MANY other farms 10 to 100 miles away got absolutely pummeled those years. Why???? No clue!! (Ok, well, at time no clue). Then, I’m “home free!!!!” Right?!?!? NOPE!!!!!! 2015 being the worst, lots of rain (fluctuating ponds & rivers) - I found 26 dead bucks on one farm alone in a year. All over. Death central. The areas that got pummeled in ‘12 & ‘13 - hardly found any. Partially because they got hit hard earlier but something else was at play.
It runs cycles. I think resistsance is part of it. Bottom line: 7 strains of EHD..... 1-2 may have wiped you clean and you don’t see a new strain for “xyz more years”. Resistance is Built.
Another “coincidence” going deeper down the rabbit hole- both of my farms, for whatever reasons, had massive amounts of new cattle trucked in during 2015 for example. Bringing new disease, strains and also creating more “mud” & midge paradise. Combine that with a herd that hadn’t got much ehd (no resistance that killed off 2012-2013 deer elsewhere), new cattle, mud & fluctuating water levels- absolute carniage.
Rewind to 2017...... severe drought!!!!!!!! Right wrong or indifferent - I put out sulfur & garlic & deer ate it. It’s been the ONLY year ever I found ZERO dead deer. Yet- my whole area had very little die off. resistence & part of cycle or garlic & sulfur helping????? I do Not know. Likely both. I always find a few in aug to oct that I’m 99% sure die of ehd. Last year was drought & 1st year I didn’t find any.
So.... CYCLE & disease resistence are key issues at play. Water is a big element but not the only element. I personally think movement of cattle is a bigger deal to deer deaths, IMO, than cwd ever will be or has been. I personally think there’s a strong ehd & cattle link that if we studied more- would correlate strongly. LOOK at maps in above link a couple pages in. Coincidence???? I don’t think so. But- if you were ravaged in the past with ehd- this drought is a roll of the dice - you may be just fine. More to it than anyone can put together right now. Good luck and hope you starting with healthy deer & avoid an ehd hit.
 
https://www.iowawhitetail.com/forum...ion-quest-for-info-to-combat-ehd-ticks.55931/

A little history & thought above. I’ve watched this cycle where I’ve “followed, tracked & paid attention to cycles” for 15+ years now. Guessing.
So.... my 2 main pockets of farms are 7-8 miles apart. BOTH had very little EHD in 2012 & 2103 for example. MANY other farms 10 to 100 miles away got absolutely pummeled those years. Why???? No clue!! (Ok, well, at time no clue). Then, I’m “home free!!!!” Right?!?!? NOPE!!!!!! 2015 being the worst, lots of rain (fluctuating ponds & rivers) - I found 26 dead bucks on one farm alone in a year. All over. Death central. The areas that got pummeled in ‘12 & ‘13 - hardly found any. Partially because they got hit hard earlier but something else was at play.
It runs cycles. I think resistsance is part of it. Bottom line: 7 strains of EHD..... 1-2 may have wiped you clean and you don’t see a new strain for “xyz more years”. Resistance is Built.
Another “coincidence” going deeper down the rabbit hole- both of my farms, for whatever reasons, had massive amounts of new cattle trucked in during 2015 for example. Bringing new disease, strains and also creating more “mud” & midge paradise. Combine that with a herd that hadn’t got much ehd (no resistance that killed off 2012-2013 deer elsewhere), new cattle, mud & fluctuating water levels- absolute carniage.
Rewind to 2017...... severe drought!!!!!!!! Right wrong or indifferent - I put out sulfur & garlic & deer ate it. It’s been the ONLY year ever I found ZERO dead deer. Yet- my whole area had very little die off. resistence & part of cycle or garlic & sulfur helping????? I do Not know. Likely both. I always find a few in aug to oct that I’m 99% sure die of ehd. Last year was drought & 1st year I didn’t find any.
So.... CYCLE & disease resistence are key issues at play. Water is a big element but not the only element. I personally think movement of cattle is a bigger deal to deer deaths, IMO, than cwd ever will be or has been. I personally think there’s a strong ehd & cattle link that if we studied more- would correlate strongly. LOOK at maps in above link a couple pages in. Coincidence???? I don’t think so. But- if you were ravaged in the past with ehd- this drought is a roll of the dice - you may be just fine. More to it than anyone can put together right now. Good luck and hope you starting with healthy deer & avoid an ehd hit.[/QUOT

We had EHD deaths BAD IN 2012 and 2013 and bad enough in 2015, cattle there all three years. COULD be a correlation but did a WHOLE bunch of new cattle show up in most of the midwest in 2012 causing the widespread EHD?? Probably more at play than cattle with EHD IMHO.
 
Good info Skip, the storm held together just enough that we got a decent shower just a few minutes ago, though nothing like the storm front it was 100 miles further west. Oh well I am thankful for what we got. Corn and beans will be happier, and maybe even germ my NWSGs
 
As Sligh mentioned, mud banks from my understand and talking with biologist seem to be a big deal when it comes to EHD. Disease central from my understanding.
 
Well went to check the gauge this morning and this it the result of yesterday’s system. I’ll take it, praying for more this afternoon.
IMG_5151.JPG



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Hope you get some more this week Deepwoods. According to Farmlogs and Climate my area of North MO got about 1.25" yesterday with a good chance for more today and tomorrow. Much needed for sure!

In contrast it's been raining damn near every day here in Minnesota for weeks.
 
Hope you get some more this week Deepwoods. According to Farmlogs and Climate my area of North MO got about 1.25" yesterday with a good chance for more today and tomorrow. Much needed for sure!

In contrast it's been raining damn near every day here in Minnesota for weeks.
Good for you man. NCMO has been getting the short end of the stick for awhile now... I cant imagine being a real farmed and having my livelihood ride on crops.
Granted I have a lot of time/$ into my little 5 acres of plots.
 
We're completely on the other side of it...can't shut the spicket off up here in NW Iowa. Almost everywhere in the immediate area has had at least 2 inches in the last week, and the forecast is for 3-5 more over the next couple of days. My fear now is the new clover plot I've been putting so much time into lately will be a flood victim before long. Seems like there's never a shortage of things to complain about when it comes to weather :D

NWBuck
 
We're completely on the other side of it...can't shut the spicket off up here in NW Iowa. Almost everywhere in the immediate area has had at least 2 inches in the last week, and the forecast is for 3-5 more over the next couple of days. My fear now is the new clover plot I've been putting so much time into lately will be a flood victim before long. Seems like there's never a shortage of things to complain about when it comes to weather :D

NWBuck
If you want to catch some of it and haul it south to SWIA, we'd take it. :)
 
If you want to catch some of it and haul it south to SWIA, we'd take it. :)

If there were a way, I know you'd have no shortage of volunteers up here willing to help with the cause. Another 4.7 on Wednesday, brings our total for the last week to somewhere between 12 and 13 inches in our small town, with more forecasted for today :eek: We've been fortunate, but there are plenty of ugly basements in the area, and I'm pretty sure my new clover plot is now under water. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll turn out that flooding kills thistles :D:D

NWBuck
 
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