How to protect your farm in a storm

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - You're making plans to keep your family safe during Hurricane Sandy, but what about your livestock?

Here are some tips from the Maryland Department of Agriculture to make sure your farm stays safe:

Farm safety

• If you need assistance with your livestock (including horses) contact your local emergency operation center.  Get a list of local emergency management offices here .
• Move all poultry and livestock to high ground and shelter them in battened barns, houses, or tightly fenced areas.
• If you take your horses with you when evacuating, take all their immunization and health records, an emergency kits, and enough hay and water for at least 48 hours.
• If evacuating, cover and secure all water, food and medical supplies for poultry and livestock
• Gather supplies of drinking water in case the electricity fails.
• Top off all gasoline, propane, and other fuel tanks, and make sure all portable generators are working properly.
• Board all glass windows and similar items that could break from high winds.
• Make sure that all animal holding areas are as clean as possible.

Crop insurance

In Maryland 15 percent of corn and 70 percent of soybeans haven't been harvested yet according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA).

Farmers are responsible to notify their crop insurance agent within 72 hours of discovering damage and should to continue to care for their crops as normal.  They must also get permission from their insurance company before destroying any crops.

Get more safety tips from MEMA here:  http://mema.maryland.gov/Pages/homeEmergency_hurricane.aspx .