Spring Grass and Hay Prospects

[farmers_son]

How do things look where you are? Have you been hit with the dry and cold or are your cows enjoying what will be very soon June grass. I have been getting phone calls from hay brokers but have turned their offers down... what hay I have left looks like it will be what the cows are eating this coming winter.

[farmers_son]

I found a very interesting tool called the Weather Mapper at:

http://www2.agric.gov.ab.ca/app10/acis/mapviewer/viewer.htm

You can set the map up to get a very good picture of the precipitation anywhere in Alberta you want. Some available options include total precipitation and precipitation as % of normal. Also snow cover and much more. You can customize the maps to provide any level of detail you wish.

Most informative.

The map confirms what I see driving around the province. It is quite dry. Espcially from Edmonton south to Red Deer and east to the border.

[per]

Good moisture here and things are warming up. Grass is slower than usual but popping up good and getting ahead of the cows. I definitely will not sell my rolled hay for the same reason as you.

[grassfarmer]

Got pretty much everything onto summer pasture in the last couple of days, still a few yearlings in the corrals and one bunch of cows just started the last field of banked grass. A week behind normal but probably only 4 days behind last year which was also very cold and late.
OK for moisture for now - heat/soil temp. is the biggest restraint to growth thus far. There was still ice here 4 inches down in sloughy areas last week. If the predicted wet days around 4-5June come in we'll be in pretty good shape - if they don't it's going to be a dry one!
One thing I notice this year is that some of the summer pastures in my area that are permanently over grazed by cattle hauled in from southern Alberta look woeful. The cows were pulled last September/October and there is zero growth on them yet - only a few urine patches greening up. The stuff that is bitten below 1/2 inch tall all growing season usually greens up fairly early but not this year. I guess it must be a moisture/root depth issue (as well as fertility and plant health of course)
If they get no growth on these by June 1st and it stays dry these pastures will be toast by July 1st. Can landowners afford to have land at a distance from home and only get one months growth a year off it? I can't see how the grass growth can justify the trucking.

[per]

GF, poor stewardship is unrewarding financially anywhere and is just exasperated by a large trucking bill. I have neighbours that haul to somewhere near you. They are usually good grass managers though. Sometimes a guy gets caught by lousy circumstances, but we always get to pay for it eventually. The learning curve can be steep.

[kato]

We're good for moisture, but the cool weather has slowed down the grass. When it finally does warm up it'll be really good. Assuming it ever does warm up. LOL

We're still holding the cows off the pasture for now, but the hay pile is getting pretty small.

[perfecho]

8mm rain total for the month of May, over 4 different days. Went into the fall with a drought, no run off this year at all. Some trees only beginning to bud out.(Just south of Leduc)
Another challange! But hey, no mosquitos!