The Farmers Nightmare: Days of Nonstop Rains.

It's been three days of nonstop rains in our place, well better than others who were in a severe typhoon. When you search the #PaengPH, you will find a devastating result. Many things happened in the country, From Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The saddening side was the life of some were lost, floods destroyed homes and properties, and landslides and bridges were damaged. Numerous areas still have no electricity or power. Then the news comes again, and another typhoon is approaching, expecting the same track as the local typhoon Paeng. The newly formed Queenie will take the throne.

Raining nonstop and heavily was a nightmare for farmers. This was a harvesting season for rice, so they expected they would again face losses. Other rice field was submerged in water, expecting 60% losses in their crops, and some just folded to the ground, computing it already had 30% losses. Then the market demand and price of the commodity will be cheap, for most rice traders won't buy low-quality stocks. Imagine how problematic the farmer's aftermath of the Paeng and again comes the new one. This is the challenge we face most of the time.

One rabbit keeper asked something last night. His question was, "Sir, my rabbits show odd things; his belly seems like they are enlarging, have no appetite to eat their feeds, what happened and what should I do?" asked the young kid. He is keeping his rabbit as a pet, but the nonstop rains resulted in something in his pet. I cannot change the emotion of sadness hearing him, for alone, I am experiencing something within my rabbits.

Nonstop rains affect not just rabbits but most animals; some ruminant animals are immune to this kind, and the rabbit is much more sensitive to water intake. Due to rain, some available feeding harms their digestive. Wet grasses result in gastro problems. Infections are highly functional. This is what I am avoiding with my rabbits.

As cold and rainy, they were voracious when it came to feeding, I prepared some stocks of green grass before typhoon Paeng came in, but this will only supply them for two days. As rains fall straight, I have no choice but to gather stocked under the rain.

Luckily I was for some grasses available just in my backyard, but the problem came when it was from the rain. It went wet and soggy. This cannot be consumed right away in rabbits. They were captives, and damp grass would give them harm, so I needed to gather them up, wash them twice with clean water and dehydrates them. A lot of processes, but I must protect my animals from harm.

I am an agriculturist, so I am a bit familiar with some grasses and sedges, so I will introduce them to you:

Digitaria ciliaris.

It's called in the local name of Tagalog, "baludgangan" in my local tongue, Iloko we called it "saka-saka", a type of weed mainly seen in the rice field and some rivers and streams. They like the water. They were hydrophilic kinds of weeds. In terms of agriculture, they were a problem for one single parent can produce thousands of seeds, but for my mini farm, they were beneficial as I feds them to my rabbit; they don't need fertilization, just loved near the water they can multiple and regrows more after a week of foraging there leaves.

Penicum repens

We are all familiar with its name Bermuda grass, they grow widely anywhere, especially in the Philippines, and some are culturing them in their backyard for landscape design, but this is another version of Bermuda. It is much longer with the landscape weed present in your garden. In our local tongue, we call it "buwag-buwag" and also "tagik-tagik" in another region. They are tolerant in wet and dry, so they could be helpful in the year cycle.

Water Spinach (Kang-kong)

I planted this one in our garden, upland kang-kong, which means it doesn't need to be in the water as life support. Most of the Kang-kong you might see are submerged in water, but this wasn't. It's a new variety that also could stand any soil. This is best as I needed them all thought out.

They are rich in crude fiber. As I said, animal eating grasses need to maintain energy in their body; this happens as they need to consume more and more.

I air dry them for 12 hours to ensure that water content will be reduced. This will prevent a gastro-stomach problem. Moisture grass will make its digestion challenging to perform its normal function. Also, we don't know what was on the rainwater, rich in what chemicals?

Nonstop rain becomes a nightmare for the farmers, and animals get prone to diseases as cold and water go their place. Make sure to protect your animals. For instance, I somehow understand that some part chooses their lives over livestock in the news.

Chicken and birds are prone to cold and nasal problems, and swine could also experience stress. Goats and cows are prone to limping due to sudden cold and heat, and also your pet animals also could face something as the rain doesn't stop. Secure your pets or farm animals as we get ready and be safe from the hail.