Massive clean-up operation begins at community farm near Ruskington  hit by flooding

The heartbreaking scenes of animals sheltering from flood water taken on Monday show a small part of the mammoth task facing Fairfield Community Farm in the coming days. Although thankfully somewhere dry was found for them to sleep that night and they are all safe, the team now face not only the clean-up but also desperately need feed and bedding as that was contaminated by the flood water.

In a blow to their mission to improve community health and well-being through animals and nature, the farm is also urgently seeking the loan or donation of a tipping trailer to help clear debris, muck, and wet straw from the farm.

The latest inundation comes just days after the farm had invested a large amount of its time and funds in providing deep straw beds for all the animals in preparation for the upcoming cold snap.

Unlike the previous flood, which tragically resulted in the loss of one of the farm’s hens, Dr Kathy Owen, founder of Fairfield Community Farm and Wellbeing Project, says she is is relieved to report that all the farm's friendly farm animals are unharmed by the flood water and have somewhere dry and warm to sleep.

However, the cleanup process is expected to take a few days even with the help of the farm's fabulous team of volunteers because the operation will be hindered by the capacity if the farm's trailer used to remove the muck.

“We’ve been fortunate that the animals have been either moved to drier areas or we've been able to raise the level of their sleeping areas, but the cleanup process is now our biggest worry,” she said.

“Floodwater brings silt off the nearby fields and lifts all the animals’ muck, which means our priority is to clear up all the debris, silt, and wet straw to avoid any potential contamination and risk of bacterial infections.

“If we had a larger muck trailer available, we would be able to manage this disaster much quicker.”

Dr Owen believes the cause of the flooding is due to “an overwhelming local drainage issue”. “Several ditches converge on a very small, single, drainage pipe that is responsible for all the water passing beneath an adjacent access track,” she explained. “At this vulnerable point, the volume of water that needs to pass through this single pipe far exceeds the pipe’s capacity and the water backs up onto our land. The heavy rainfall we saw last night, and during storm Babet in 2023, causes the ditch opposite to overflow across the road and pour onto the farm, adding to the already high volume of water coming from the fields above us, causing the flooding we've seen.”

Lincolnshire World shared the concerns with the Environment Agency, who said: “In the last 48 hours we’ve seen widespread rain leading to flooding across Lincolnshire and we’re aware Ruskington has been impacted.

“We know the devastating impact flooding can have on communities and are committed to working with the residents of Ruskington on ways the area can become more resilient to flooding incidents.

“The maintenance of the majority of ditches in Ruskington are the responsibility of riparian owners. The Environment Agency does maintain the nearby Farroway Drain. Officers have been monitoring the site but do not have concerns about it at this time.”

Anyone wishing to help with the crowdfunding can do do by visiting https://gofund.me/f5e0fe5e.