It’s August 2026. The crawfish ponds are drained, and step one of prep for next year begins. Discing. Why do we need to do this at all? After months of running amphibious crawfish boats through these ponds, the bottoms are covered in deep wheel ruts, uneven ground, hardened mud, and leftover vegetation. If we flood them again like that, those problems will still be waiting for us next season. Once the pond bottoms dry enough to support a tractor, we pull a disc across them. Its rows of steel blades cut into the surface, break apart the hardened mud, loosen compacted areas, chop up old plant material, and begin working down the ruts left by our crawfish boats. Discing is only the first rough pass. Afterward, we’ll use other equipment to smooth and level the pond bottoms before planting. A more even pond is easier to navigate, drains more consistently, and gives us a better surface to establish next year’s forage crop. That forage is the biggest reason this work matters. On our farm, we plant sorghum. Once the ponds are flooded again, that plant material begins breaking down and fuels the microorganisms and small invertebrates that crawfish eat. We are not simply planting something for crawfish to chew on. We are rebuilding the entire food web they will depend on next season. And the timing matters. We need enough dry weather to get tractors into the ponds, repair the damage, prepare the seedbed, plant, and give that sorghum time to grow before the ponds are flooded again. It may look like we’re just turning over a field of dried mud, but this is where the 2027 crawfish crop begins. - @louisianacrawfishco