Wildlife on the River Farm
by Deanna, Republic County WIFE

An American farmer has a deep concern for the environment. The farm family lives on the land that they farm. I'd like to demonstrate that commitment to wildlife by using one of our farms as an example. In 1978, just a few years after we first began to farm, we added the river farm to our farming operation.

Farm families provide great contributions to wildlife. For example, we give (or the deer take) about 1-2% of our corn crop each year. It is very obvious on the river farm, where we grow about 180 acres of corn each year.

Come along with us as we examine our fields. We check the fields many times after we've planted. We cultivate the corn and watch for weed growth.  Later, we irrigate the crop. As the corn matures and the ears begin to develop, the deer love to feast on the delicate ears. We'll see many ears of corn which have had just one bite eaten by the deer as they move from one end of the field to the other. Those ears will be dried up when we go by the next time. They have no possibility of producing corn because the life juices can no longer flow through the ear of corn.

Perhaps you'd like to ride the combine as we harvest. As we go through the field, you will see places where the cornfield is matted or trampled down.  It looks like a tornado has gone through the cornfield. The deer usually bed down in a narrow strip. Sometimes, it's an area one-third the width and as long as a football field. (An acre is about the size of a football field.) The loss of corn in those strips costs the farmer the dollars spent for seed and fertilizer, as well as the income lost for the corn he would have raised on that 1/3 acre.

In 1978, when we started farming this farm, we were tremendously excited when we would see just ONE white-tailed deer on the river farm. Now it's not at all unusual to see many deer, even miles away from the river. We often see 12, 18, or 20 deer in a herd grazing on spring wheat fields miles from the river or 20 or 30 feeding on corn stalks in the late winter. One neighbor reported counting nearly 200 deer in one herd during the winter. Another neighbor was checking cattle. She stopped after she counted 75 deer. 

Deer collisions are the reason for more than 50% of the car accidents in our county. We've had several vehicles damaged. One deer coming out of the ditch took off my car's side view mirror. Because I thought someone might have an accident if the deer stayed lying on the road, I went for help to move it into the ditch. When we returned, the deer had recovered and was gone.

Beavers like corn as well as deer do. One summer, we watched a circle of chewed-off corn grow larger and larger as the beavers took down the corn just like they fell trees. The corn stalks were dragged from the cornfield in a visible pathway. The corn stalks were dragged from the cornfield edge, across the driveway, and through the trees to the river. We wonder if they stored the ears of corn for the winter or if they used the stalks to reinforce their dam. The circle covered at least one-half acre.

In 2 of the 20 years we have farmed along the river, we noticed something interesting about the beavers. As we walked the timber along the river's edge to check the cattle in those winters, we discovered an area of nearly ½ acre (about ½ the size of a football field) where the small willow trees up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, had been felled by beavers. In the spring following both of those winters, the river flooded. Was it happenstance, coincidence or instinct?  Did the beavers know and reinforce their dams for the floods that came months later? 

In 1978, there were no wild turkeys on the river farm. They were introduced into the area about that time. Now, we've seen 14 or more in a flock on our farm and watched young turkey's grow up. It's not unusual to see 20-30 wild turkeys on a neighbor's ground, but our river farm has areas of cover, where they can quickly take shelter. They know we're coming before we see them.

Coyotes, raccoons, and various other critters have always been around in varying numbers. In recent years, we've seen bobcats on the river farm.  The number of bobcats has increased rapidly. One trapper from the town near the river farm has trapped as many as 18 bobcats in one season. Town residents, with windows open to spring and summer breezes, report hearing the bobcat's distinctive sound. They also tell of watching the fur on their housecat's back stand on end.

Neighboring farmers tell us that there have been cougars (mountain lions) sighted in our area. We took pictures of paw prints this past summer along the side of the field road. The larger paw prints were larger than a man's hand.  The size of the paw prints varied, leading us to believe that there were younger cougars in the group, as well as adults. Both bobcats and cougars are known to follow their main food source - the deer.

Red foxes have become more common in our area. People living in town often report seeing them. Our daughter-in-law rushed outside when she heard her kitten yowling. She found the kitten had been treed (chased up the tree) by a fox kitten.

Pheasants and quail provide beauty and enjoyment and abundant hunting opportunities. An acquaintance owns land enrolled in the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) in the eastern part of our county. He has hunted there in the morning with varying degrees of success. In the afternoon, he comes to the western part of the county near our river farm where it's irrigated and almost fully farmed. There, he finds the birds are plentiful.

Our area is a stopping place for many geese as they fly north. They cover the fields, picking at food in the field only yards from my front door. The bank of the pond in the pasture at our home place often looks like an amphitheater filled with geese during spring migration. My attempt to take pictures of this took me (very, very slowly) within yards of them. The sound as they lifted off over my head was nearly as loud as the sound of a jet plane. We see how quickly they can eat down the young, green growing wheat in our area when the geese spend a few days here during the spring migration. The crop damage helps us understand the difficulties faced by the fragile tundra in the far north where the geese spend the summer.

Other birds also enjoy the farmer's bountiful crops. Fields of milo (grain sorghum) show the damage to milo heads, where sparrows, blackbirds, and other birds eat their fill of the grain.

I had only seen that proud American symbol, the bald eagle, in pictures until recent years. In the late 1980's, we watched 2 mature eagles and a young eaglet circle overhead as we planted corn. In the early 1990's, I watched 5 eagles rise from the ground when I was checking cattle that were calving.  The eagles had risen from the meal they were sharing - the afterbirth deposited after the birthing of a baby calf. In the fall of 1991, when there had been very little rain, the river was very narrow-nearly dry in places. We placed a fence in the bed of the river and were able to drive in the river to check the cattle along the banks. As we drove the pickup, an eagle flew toward us and I was able to step out. I got to look up directly at the wide wingspread of this mighty bird so close that I could hear the sound of the wings flapping. By the winter of 1999, it was unusual to NOT see eagles roosting or flying the river as we checked cows and calves in the winter grazing areas along the river.   

When we began to farm with my brother-in-law, I had an on-going argument with him over the use of chemicals and fertilizers. I've learned that when we use chemicals and fertilizers in a responsible manner, it is possible to farm the land and benefit the wildlife. Remember, our family lives on the land where we work and farm. Our grandchildren are frequent visitors. They provide strong reasons for us to care for the land.