The Joys of Conservation Practices on the Ground and Growing

by Joyce Nicholas, DC, Monroe County

What a complete joy it is to see someone take pride in doing a good job—a job that is impressive—one that even makes long-time Soil Conservation Technician Reuben Hyde proud! I am speaking of the conservation practices installed by Ron Bailey, of Uriah, Alabama.

Ron, along with his wife and daughter, accomplished all of the requirements in their FY07 EQIP contract in a very timely manner—and they did an excellent job! Mr. Bailey stated that his daughter got to drive the tractor a great deal so she was always willing to help out on the farm. I hope that the love of the land will be instilled in this youngster forever and we will have another generation that will strive to keep the small family farm alive.

When Ron decided to participate in the EQIP cost-share program, the resource concerns was his soil and water--he needed some assistance with converting cropland to pasture. He also had a need for grass planting, some fencing, oh yeah, water troughs, a water source, and, just maybe, some cost-share assistance. Amy Bell, DC for Monroe County at the time of the FY07 EQIP sign-up, and Reuben were instrumental in putting together the conservation plan that has proved to be so very successful.

Mr. Bailey was fortunate enough to get a couple of rain showers at just the right time on his grass planting; this was significant in the establishment of his Pensacola Bahia grass. His conservation plan has proved to be successful—even though the area has suffered severe drought conditions this spring; the sandy soil enabled the fence post to be installed without delay. Due to this drought, others in the county are facing more difficulties.  Much of the ground in Monroe County is as hard as a brick, which is creating hardships. 

The weather—we all talk about it—and there is nothing we can do about it!

One of the neat innovative things that Mr. Bailey did was to use some spare parts of steel to create a really good float protector that looks like fingers. He plans to install one or two more "fingers" to completely surround the ends of the floats, which should provide even greater protection from the cattle.

Imagine my delight as I work with landowners in Monroe County like Mr. Bailey—those who take their contracts seriously and make all efforts to install practices that meet the NRCS standards and specifications in such a timely manner.  What joy!
 

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