With a record snowfall in the books the talk of record flooding is starting to gain traction and unfortunately rain, snow melt and saturated ground can easily spell trouble for farmer's crop fields and pasture areas with gully erosion.

Crop fields with little winter cover are the most susceptible to washes, however no-till and pasture areas can have gullies too, especially if concentrated flow enters a field from culverts or roads.

In crop fields, adding a cover crop and reducing tillage practices are usually the cheapest and most advantageous way to control erosion, but sometimes crop removal timing, wet spots or off field flows make a grassed waterway the best and a long-term solution to a recurring problem.

Waterways can be as simple as plow skips or engineered and designed to a specific width and depth.

Either way, the area should be seeded down with a good sod, forming drought tolerant grass — typically tall fescue — that should be maintained around 6 inches in height to keep the area in a thick vegetative state.

Typically plow skips need to be larger than designed waterways due to the lack of depth the natural depression has. Constructed waterways on the other hand, average about 30 to 35 feet in width and tend to be about 8 to 10 inches deep. They can be designed to be narrower and deeper, but over their life span they seem to never grow in size, depending on the amount of tillage.

Subsurface drainage is nearly always recommended to help control seasonal wetness and permit the waterway to be crossed early spring and late fall.

The drain line should be installed on one side; when installed directly in the middle the freshly excavated area is highly prone to washing if installed before a heavy rain and there is no improvement in drainage versus an offset installation.

If off-site runoff, specifically from road culverts, is creating initial erosion problems installing a surface inlet in addition to the waterway is extremely helpful to handle snow melt or small storm events. A concrete drop box or riser inlets are the preferred inlets, but a blind inlet consisting of a heavily graveled cutoff trench might be the best solution where steepness or litter could prohibit proper functioning.

Flow restriction devices called orifice plates, large flat washers the diameter of the pipe, must be installed to prevent overloading the pipe resulting in blowouts. A 4-inch drain line will handle nearly all drainage issues, however when connected with a surface inlet a 6- or 8-inch line should be used handle storm events.

Due to the potentially high cost of installing a waterway, our office along with the Farm Service Agency administers both CREP and EQIP to help defray construction expenses.

CREP is a 10- or 15-year contract in which the applicant will receive an annual rental rate of about $20 to $50 depending on the waterway footprint, as well as up to $5.40/foot in installation expenses. CREP is ideal for ground owned by the applicant; however the owners of rented ground must sign and agree to the terms of the contract so those interested should discuss contract rules with FSA.

EQIP, on the other hand, is typically only one year in contract length, while the applicant will be required to show control of land for the contract period. Most, if not all, landowners will permit control of the one-year contract period.

This program only pays for the installation expenses, however, unlike CREP this program can pay for drain line replacement beyond the waterway footprint — a plus in fields that have a fair amount of aging drainage systems.

Waterways also are eligible in pasture fields and around barns and buildings if culverts or downspouts are causing gully issues.

Interested producers should contact our office for more information about how we can help with erosion problems on the farm.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.