dry conditions

[nerves]

Alot of our barley crops are starting to burn on top of the hills west of Gleniffer lake. Another ten days and there might be alot of silage around. Any other areas notice this. Pastures on thier second growth are also starting to take a beating.

[Incognito]

Had a big White combine come through the Crossfield/Airdrie area tonight. My poor dear wife won't be happy when she comes home from her night shift. Around 4 tenth of moisture, so it should help our pastures a bit. A bit of burn on the crops inthis area as well.

[cowman]

I kind of thought the darned barley was coming a little fast in some areas! However the showers are real spotty in places. They got a super heavy shower between Lacombe and Red Deer yesterday morning and we got a nice one last night. Didn't last all that long but big heavy rain drops(close to half inch in the rain gauge)...looked like they really got a good shot south of here.
We do need one more good shot of rain to fill the crops.

[grassfarmer]

We've had 5 1/4 inches at Rimbey in July although it's only been dribs and drabs recently - 10 mintute thunder showers. The countryside is looking well on it though. We have piles of lush grass still and will need to hay some more grass that has got away from the cows. We have still lots of hoppers but it seems whenever we get a hot day with high humidity we lose a few more to the fungus. The grain crops around here look good to my untrained eye.
A few guys with "traditional" pasture management are out of grass - one has been feeding hay to cows on pasture since 12 July - ouch!!

[cakadu]

The storm that went through last night was very spotty. They got quarter sized hail or better in the Leslieville area and it worked it's way over to Sylvan Lake, yet 5 miles south of there it was dry. We got some thunder and a bit of lightning and we could see the line the storm was travelling, but it got no where near us (by *****on Dam).

When you drive around the countryside out here, you can see some of the crops "turning" just a little too soon. Some of the second growth is coming in very spotty, so another shower or ten would do us some real good.

[cakadu]

Last night (Sat) sometime during the night we got quite the thunderstorm that dropped a great deal of rain on us. We needed it and it looked like most of it soaked in. Now, if we could just keep this going.

[nerves]

Cakadu just in time one and a quarter inches now maybe I can put the silage bagger away untill the next situation arises. (white combine)

[boone]

Open Question:
Can anyone tell me what 3 to 4 foot canola is worth as a silage or whatever. It is down in a low draw, and has had just enough frost to abort the seeds. By the pound what is a fair value in western Sask?

[grassfarmer]

If you were a neighbour I would offer you @$17 a ton standing max. Assuming I could put it up for silage at @60% moisture and it isn't high nitrate content. I have no clue what it is worth where you are.

[cswilson]

Boone it really depends what stage it was in fully podded or with some bloom left. We've wintered our cows on straight canola two different winters and they did quite good. The one year it was still blooming and it tested 16% protein. As too price it looks like there is going to be lots of feed this year so I wouldn't get too richy with it-I wouldn't pay much more than a 11/2 cents a pound baled.

[nerves]

canola is a plant that goes well in silage as a mix but straight not to sure. Where are the protein and energy levels at in canola. If the seeds have been shed then I wonder what levels are in the plants themselves. Canola is plant I don"t know to much about but would like to learn more about.

[rain]

A few local baled canola for there cows the last two years. According to them it baled great and fed well.

[boone]

Thanks guys I appreciate what you have offered here. I hope it isn't as bad as it looks but time will tell. The plants look fine but the seeds have a high translucent appearance, I would doubt its having nitrates present. 4/5 bloom done. Thanks Again

[cowman]

Well so much for the dry conditions! It's like living in Bangladesh or something!
The one thing this last week did was assure a "probable" bumper crop, at least in my neck of the woods.
I suspect we will break a few records this year?(providing we get no frost and decent harvest weather).
What happens if we get a super grain crop? Apparently there is absolutely no market for export feed grain. Will the grain farmer sit on that big crop or will they move it at cheap prices? How's your bin space...do you have enough storage to hold it for a year? My cousin, who farms my grain land, suggests I might need to buy a bin or two!
Now lets see how many cows do I need to sell to buy a 5000 bu. bin?

[whiteface]

Probably about a million cowman! Why don't you just keep your cows and feed your grain! What the heck are you going to do without cows and grain! There ain't no berries to pick in the winter either! You'll get sunburned and/or malaria in the Carribean, and I'd miss you here on agri-ville! Hang around for a while will ya!