Drought strategies

[grassfarmer]

Is it too early to be discussing drought strategies in early June? I'm not too familiar with the weather patterns here yet but an old neighbor tells me there has never been a year with such poor grass growth by this time of year.
At the rate of regrowth we are seeing I'm planning now - the worst that can happen is we end up with extra grass by fall. If you had asked me 2 weeks ago I would have thought it inconceivable that the grass wouldn't be getting ahead of us by now given the acres we are grazing and past production records.

I think i'll pull the trigger on some yearling steers next week. Renting still more pasture and working on selling a group of young cows. Also adding more cows to my cull list for fall.
Not looking cheery at all - how many producers will be as keen to hold their cows at all costs like they were through the 02/03 droughts given low or negative profitability in recent years? Starting on an 8 month winter with $120/T hay just isn't a realistic proposition.
What is it like in other areas and what drought strategies are folks adopting?

[frustrated1]

Looks bleak in east central alberta. Still feeding. Skidded all yrlngs last week, starting to shoot and ship cows tomorrow. In 02 we kept them at all costs, spent three months trashing iron to put up every stitch of silage and greenfeed we could. Our wonderful govt programs penalized us for every ounce of feed whereas others had very expensive feed paid for. Will never ever try to help ourselves again where govt is involved. Better to shoot every one of those critters than to hammer ourselves and our iron into the dirt to try to help ourselves. But I digress, we have agristability now as our great saviour. I'm sure that's a vast improvement. Will continue the cull process sooner than later. (yes, I'm bitter)

[rookie]

well, i am frustrated too, there won't be a cow left inside 90 days at my place. The N/E Alberta area needs some rain....

[per]

Destock is the only answer to a drought. We have 2 locations 75km apart with different climates. Never been beat. Both are struggling this year. Will decide on destocking or not by the middle of the month. Never want to be last to sell. Can't feed you way out of a drought. (economically)

[perfecho]

Feeling somewhat helpless myself! Vowed yesterday's hay purchase was the last...probably couldn’t find it if I wanted to.
Was going to ship some pairs 2 weeks ago, but with 4-H and seeding.......first lesson, follow your gut instinct! Don't like to sell into this market....at this point, even good purebreds are just canners, as no one else has the feed to feed them
I know the "farmer’s intuition" is to hang on longer than your neighbor and you might win, but look where that philosophy has gotten us.
Had thought of putting out feelers to give a young new family some cows, buyback the calves at market price in the fall, then I would just work on marketing the bulls/hfrs and an upstart family has no cow costs to deal with for a while. But.....there has to be an industry that is thriving to make that work. If anyone know such a couple, please let me know.
Our best chance is to pray for rain, and less frost...froze her again last night.
Good luck to all......it is probably not going to be easy!

[kato]

We'd be glad to trade you some rain for a little warmth. Almost the middle of June, and still not warm. We are still feeding cows too, and counting the bales. Two semis are supposed to be here in the morning to haul to pasture, and we're not sure they can get out of the yard without sliding off the lane.

What a weird year. Last Friday we had a heck of a frost, and were glad the corn has been held back from peeking out of the ground by the cold weather! Some area crops are being reseeded, and some parts of the province are still too wet to seed. And crop insurance deadlines are looming.

It's one extreme or the other it seems, and neither one is good. Maybe somewhere in the middle there's a really sweet spot that's going to have a wonderful year!

[farmers_son]

The people who have insurance on their hay are having problems with AFSC. People desperate for pasture for their cows are looking to put cows onto their hay land.

What AFSC is making these people do is accept an adjustment for anticipated yield that is way above any realistic or possible hay yield. The people I have spoken with have had to accept an adjustment equal to their coverage. That is if you were insured for 1800 pounds of hay per acre you have to agree to an adjustment or estimated hay yield of 1800 pounds even though there is no growth on the field to speak off. Even the gophers are hungry. This means you get no insurance yet you still have to pay the premium. People are agreeing to this because they are up against the wall and really have no choice. It is either that or sell the cows.

AFSC should be ashamed. AFSC should be writing those hay fields off. There is really no growth there but at least the cows could graze the headlands and bushes, creeks etc. People are desperate and Alberta's cattle industry is facing a crisis. Anything that can be done to keep the cow herd from being liquidated needs to be considered.

[coppertop]

Alberta Agriculture and AFSC are holding
meetings across the province. One in Buck
Creek on June 22 in the evening.

[smcgrath76]

Preg checked cows two weeks ago and sent
several out. Will do another run on
anything not calved by month end. We
kept our few grass calves, but sold our
planned grazers the end of March when
the price exceeded our acceptable risk
level. In hindsight, that was a
brilliant move.
We have lots of grass for the cows that
are there but are worried about 2010 at
this point. Have to head in and pay the
moisture insurance next week (that
should make it rain).
It looks as though the winter feed
supply might be tight, particularly if
we get a lot of snow.

[PDF]

Did anyone get and rainfall?

[coppertop]

2" here on Saturday/Sunday in West Central
AB.