A little concerned?

[cowman]

I'm getting a wee bit concerned about the moisture situation. Clouded up real good last night and looked like we might get a good storm...but then the wind picked up and blew it all away. Seems that has been the pattern the last few years around here?
Farmers are just starting to seed around here...I assume mostly wheat? I suspect just about every possible acre will be canola this year. Seems like the general feeling is there is no money in barley, but if it stays dry that might change.
About my closest cow neighbor sold off his 140 cow/calf pairs and did quite well...around $1250 average! He's busy as a bee ripping up the grass. I've got a custom sprayer booked for the 29th to spray with roundup and the breaking disk coming 6 days later to do 100 acres. Going to attempt to plant it to barley by early June...might be touch and go?

[amazed]

Cowman, are you going to have enough new growth by the 29th for the Roundup to work properly?

[blackjack]

I am very concerned about the drought and grasshoppers. We're going to mix rye in with our barley silage crops hoping to use for fall pasture . Looks like the spring feeding will also be extended in hope the pastures get a good jump.

[cowman]

Yea, that is definitely a concern, although it is greening up pretty well her. We actually have a fair bit of moisture here. I suspect it will be pretty touch and go and I don't have great expectations for this crop. I'll need a break.

[rook]

Cowman, another option is to hire someone with a disk drill to seed into the sod. Save half a dozen trips over the bumpy field.

We tried that last year and it worked well enough to do it again this year, even in a tough year. Of course, it was a hay field and not an old pasture, though.

[cowman]

A good part of the problem is these fields are so darned rough you can hardly walk across them! The darned moles are ferocious around here! To bad we couldn't convince the Chinamen that moles are just the ticket for a better chop suey or something!

[Horse]

The moisture here is iffy at best and the wind has blown more already than a normal yrs worth But I am more worried about the amount of crop land that will be seeded this yr I went for a drive the other day (blew may next weeks alowance on gas ) and the amount of worked land is realy something for this area with all the guys that sold cows and worked up pastures I dont know where we will find markets for all this grain even if its a poor crop.

[grassfarmer]

If it stays majorly dry in any big areas this summer there will be plenty takers for greenfeed - with the cow numbers as high as they are we can't stand another severe drought.
We have only had 24 inches of snow since New Year here. 2003 saw 54 inches of snow and 5" of rain by end of April, 2002 saw 52" of snow by end of April.
Looking far too dry!!