How is moisture now?

[grassfarmer]

How is moisture now across the Prairies? We have had 3.5 inches at Rimbey in the last week. Will really help the grass out, I don't know if it will be early enough to help crops. A lot of the grain silage has already been taken off up here as it was getting too dry. We got caught half way through the operation so will need some time for the land to dry out.

[Rodjam]

Near Lacombe we had about the same amount, just what my swath grazing Oats needed. Not sure how bad it would have been if we had another week of that heat.

[cowman]

You guys have been getting more than here, east of Red Deer. Guesstimate less than one inch in the last week! It's helped and probably enough to do a decent job on some crops and definitely helped the pastures.
East of Red Deer county it was getting pretty ugly! Lots of barley really burning up, canola yields probably really affected due to blasting, and pastures pretty well all brown.

[PureCountry]

4 inches at Hardisty since Monday. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we had nasty thunderstorms that dumped rain in buckets, and luckily we missed the hail, some neighbours weren't so lucky.

Had hail last night the size of ice cubes though, flattened our neighbours peas right to the ground and some canola crops as well. 1/2 inch out of that mess last night, but it started up again through the night, and it's raining quite heavy here this morning. Clouds are right on the ground so hopefully it's socked in for the day.

Almost feel guilty saying it, but it couldn't have come at a better time to save our swathgrazing or the brome and alfalfa we seeded this year.

[cowman]

Checked the rain gauge and it was actually 1.4 inches here, which is okay I guess.
I think that brings the grand total since April up to 7.2 inches of rain. A neighbor told me once we need 9 inches to grow an average crop...does that sound about right?

[Horse]

About 7 in since spring in Barrhead county where I live 3/4 then 1 1/4 my early bly crops are burned have some late mixed grain underseeded and the rain just doubled the growth dont think there will be any second cut hay first cut was a little below average but if you cut early enough the quality should be good , the rains are very patchy with some areas 20 mi away getting over3in in one dump.The pastures are shot as they were all burned off and now its too late for the rain to help .

[coppertop]

Misty rain here this morning, looks like it will continue all day. Pastures are still in good shape.

[sagewood]

We got 3/10 in a downpour last night, but until that, we have had nothing--east of Airdrie. All the showers etc. that are on the news are hitting the foothills and Calgary's pavement--the urbanites are always so glad to see it rain on their pavement so they can grow more of it! I hear that some areas of Calgary got flooded last night in underpasses and so forth and there are still folks out there who think it is a good idea to drive into six - 8 feet of water--just to see if their car can float and see how fast the emerg. guys can respond. Anyway, our native pasture may come back with a little more rain today, but the crops are burned off in this area and the guys doing silage tell me it is almost past the point where they can do any further silage as everything is getting way too dry. The high cloud we have today does not look like it will yield much rain and then next week is supposed to be back into the 29 - 30 degree range for a few days. We have tons and tons of hay in this part of the province, but instead of selling it cheaply, I am thinking it is going into the stack yard in reserve for next year..am already feeding the cows a little extra hay now as there is virtually nothing left in the pasture worth eating...

[grassfarmer]

It keeps on storming at Rimbey, violent lightening storms nearly every day with some light hail. We have had 5.75 inches since July 25th bringing us up to about 10 inches moisture since April 1st. Been driving from here to Edmonton many times in recent weeks either on highway 2 or up through Calmar and very rarely see cows with what I would call adequate pasture. Most of it would be short going for sheep - the problem isn't only drought it's management (or lack of)

[coppertop]

In my travels I certainly see cattle in excellent condition so the pastures must be providing the necessary nutrients.

I haven't seen any pastures with the exception of one across the road that really look stressed, but we have had good moisture although we haven't had many electrical storms. No hail to speak of and only spotty lightening storms. The rain has picked up here and we are getting a steady rain, no wind though.

[Rodjam]

We had another inch in the last 24 hrs just north of Lacombe. Of course the cows picked today to go for a run so I had a nice walk/run in the rain.

[sagewood]

You people are all talking about your rain just to make me jealous aren't you? Here in the 'east' country, we got a howling wind that battered us for about 8 hours, but no rain--Calgary got rain again...here it was just a darn howling, cold wind--I have always thought this would be an ideal area for a golf course--no rain--the golfers could escape Calgary and golf their little hearts out in the sunshine.....my cows came running last night when I took a new bale of hay to them--I fear that I have started a bad trend this early in the year. Once the crops come off they will have extra grazing, so I can wean them from their daily treats. They are all in good condition and I don't want them going backwards. I guess I like to spoil them just a little..

[cswilson]

I a'i'ed for two weeks on a place with a 100,000 dollar health barn with not even a heavy dew-then came home to start ours and it's rained probably 4 inches in 5 days lol. I'll take it though.

[coppertop]

It got pretty chilly here last night, 6 on the thermometer, and there is sure heavy dew this morning.
The cattle aren't interested in changing pastures but I will move them in the morning as there is lots of grass here that needs to be grazed.