Excessive rainfall brought by a tropical storm or hurricane during summer can affect management of forages and livestock in several ways. The extent of damages, and hence the remediation options, can vary widely from farm to farm considering the different types of forage species (e.g., cool- and warm-season forages, annuals and perennials, monoculture and mixed pastures) that can be grown in the same farm. This brief provides considerations for management of warm-season hay-land and pastures by land and livestock managers after heavy rainfall during summer. 

• Wet soils do not allow traffic of hay equipment across fields and hence harvesting schedules for hay production may be delayed. Mature forages, like those with extended regrowth periods, will have lower nutritive value (i.e., lower concentrations of crude protein and energy). Feeding hay of low protein and energy levels will negatively affect livestock performance calling for the need of supplemental feed to maintain livestock.
• Hay producers should continuously assess soil moisture conditions before bringing equipment back into the field and consider the weather forecast to decide if cutting at a given date is warranted. Usually after a heavy rainfall there is a window of dry weather of several days (or weeks) sometimes warranting hay production, but continuous monitoring of current conditions and of the weather forecast is of utmost importance before initiating field activities for production of hay. Hay will usually require 3 to 5 days or more of field curing to reduce moisture to less than 20%. It is especially important to dry hay to less than 40% as soon as possible to prevent nutrient loss due to plant respiration and microbial degradation. Clipped forage left in the field that gets rained on will deteriorate at a very fast rate. Also, following a warm and moist period, scouting for pests like fall armyworm and bermudagrass stem maggot, especially during July and August, should be considered in order to decide if an application for pest control will be needed. 
• For grazed pastures, livestock managers should consider moving livestock through paddocks at a faster pace, even if the forage is not grazed to the recommended stubble heights. This is especially important for preventing pasture damage and subsequent weed infestation in warm-season perennial pastures. Leaving a taller stubble height and moving animals faster from paddock to paddock will prevent damage of pastures and reduce development of muddy and weedy areas. In extreme circumstances where pastures are continuously flooded for an extended period, managers should consider identifying a potential sacrifice area preferably planted to annual crops where livestock could graze and hay could be fed. These areas could then be planted to a cool-season annual forage during the September to October timeframe.
• Flood events of one day or less usually have a low impact on forage survival. Damage is less in areas of moving water compared to standing, stagnant water. Damage from flooding is also reduced if the forage is not completely covered by water. Grasses with leaves extending above the water surface survive longer than those fully submerged. If legumes are present, it is likely for rhizobia bacteria in legume nodules to be weakened and likely will cease nitrogen fixation for an extended period. Consequently, flood-damaged plants will appear yellowed and nitrogen deficient.
• Our experience after Hurricane Matthew in 2016 is that well-established hay-land and pastures are resilient to heavy rainfall and to a degree to flooding. While there is not a definite number of days that flooded pastures can survive, our experience in the Coastal Plains was that after one week of being submerge, tall fescue pastures were lost and some bermudagrass pastures were affected but later recovered. Native warm-season grasses (e.g., switchgrass, big bluestem) and bahiagrass were able to recover to a much better pace after the prolonged flooding. Hence, if there are wet areas that easily flood, land and livestock managers should consider selecting forage species better adapted for those types of sites.