Ranchers in the Central Valley thankful for the continuous rain

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Sheep roaming around on green grass, snow on the mountains, and clouds rolling in.

The scenery, which looks almost like a painting, is the view at Ryan Indart's pasture East of Clovis.

The recent rain has been a welcome sight for the third generation rancher, the last ten years the drought has been difficult.

"I will never complain about this water. I am extremely grateful for all this water because we have lived through treacherous terrible droughts. Between 2012 and 16 and 2018 was even worse. So I am so thankful to mother nature and God above for all this precipitation," says Ryan.

Several inches of rain have cleared up the air and saturated the ground the sheep live on, helping the soil better absorb outside nutrients.

"It's an ecosystem, the soil is. So, it makes for a more healthy soil when you have more rainfall that organic matter thrives, does its job, and creates a more robust pasture that is full of nutrition for these animals, it's a life cycle for these animals." explains Ryan.

The rain has been mostly positive for Ryan's sheep.

But the rain and cold weather do create obstacles for those with weaker immune systems.

Ryan sees a slight increase in the death of baby lambs and older ewe's.

"So, you just have to have a healthy perspective of how the circle of life works in ranching and agriculture. Know that mother nature is giving over here but she's taking over here. it's just one of the realities of what we do," Ryan mentions.

With the upcoming rain expected this weekend, Ryan says he looks forward to seeing good feed on all local pastures this year.