However, according to Wesley Tucker, agriculture business specialist, University of Missouri Extension, there are two special tax provisions designed to reduce the income tax liability.

The first provision, Code Section 451(e), lets a producer who sells more livestock (including poultry) than normal because of drought, flood or other weather-related conditions, to postpone recognizing the gain from that sale until the following year.

"This only applies to the number of head in excess of normal. You must be able to document the sales were more than they would have been under normal business operations," said Tucker.