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The aftermath of major Midwest storm

Farmers impacted by this week’s major storm face a long road to recovery.

A combination of snow, sleet and rain has lingered over the Midwest, burying livestock and further saturating fields.

Mike Landuyt in southwest Minnesota says just moving the fresh snow has been difficult.

“Right now our fields are so soft, our yards are so soft.”

Landuyt has a cattle feedlot and grows corn and soybeans in Redwood County.

“We’ll start having issues with not being able to get the manure hauled out to the fields. Right now with everything being so soft, we’ll probably end up having to find a spot close to the yard that we can stockpile and clean up later when we can get it hauled out to the fields.”

He says he has no idea when they might be able to start planting.

“Our ground was already full of water, so I’m sure when it melts it’ll all flow off and get the creeks built back up and add to the flooding downstream.”

There have been reports of up to 30 inches of snow in southwest Minnesota.