Rain

[coppertop]

How much rain did you get in your area this
week? We got 3 3/10ths here at the farm in
west central AB. Of course it was only 2
here this morning, but no sign of frost
thankfully.

[kato]

I've been wondering all week how all you dry Albertans and Saskatchewanians (say that five times quickly LOL)have been doing. The weather channel makes it look like it's been wet. We've gotten some here, mostly in thunderstorms and such, but then again we weren't nearly as dry as you guys.

I guess the big question is whether it came on time or not. I hope it did!

[perfecho]

We received a total of 40mm not quite 2".....thought we would get more, but just didn't happen. We are just south of Leduc, but the totals vary greatly within a 20 mile radius. Calling for warmer weather, which we need for growing...time will tell, but have to admit, after years of struggling in the beef business, this year is not helping!

[coppertop]

I was on the Ag Service Board Tour in
Lacombe County all week, and I can vouch
for the fact that there were lots of
cow/calf pairs going through VJV on
Wednesday.
I know because I stayed in Ponoka and
heard the bawling for two days straight
!!!
We are supposed to get rain again
tomorrow morning, then some warm weather
for a few days.
The pastures sure look better as do the
crops around here but we have
grasshoppers so that will make things
interesting.

[grassfarmer]

We have had 3 4/10ths in July which we are mighty grateful for. Could take the same again though as it just soaked right in. Grasshoppers here too although we probably have enough of a flush of grass now that they are not going to be significant problem. As some of the guys over on the commodity forum are saying - the crops look good - if it were mid June.

[coppertop]

I saw some good crops around Lacombe County
as well, but mainly on the west side of the
QE11.
I mowed my 2 acre lawn this afternoon and
there is still water standing in places.
I think we are going to get some rain this
evening and possibly tomorrow, then some
heat for a few days.

[per]

5/10ths since the snow in May. Things are holding up good considering. Start grazing barley tomorrow. Our ranch has had several inches and looks good.

[dfarms11]

2 inches NE of Camrose, pastures just turning green. Wheat a foot tall, and our canola a week or two from bolting!

[rookie]

3 inches in 2 weeks now in NE AB, hoppers are clean now... wrote off all canola, odd field trying to bloom around county, cerials look okay.

[waterloo_boy]

ne of edmonton all I got was 2/10ths from this last one, pasture is holding for now,hay is the real issue. hoppers are thick and doing in the alfalfa yet too cool and overcast to start cutting. the oats I seeded in May finally came up here the other day. What do you do when its all stacked against you; no silver lining this year!

[coppertop]

This is a tough year for everyone, but if
you listened to Minister George this
morning he thinks that insurance will be
the answer and nobody will be in a bind !!

[mcfarms]

If you all haven't seen this site it gives you a good indcation of who to be sorry for and who to be grouchy at.or happy for.

http://environment.alberta.ca/forecasting/data/precipmaps/precipmaps.html

[PureCountry]

We've had some good rains in the last 3 weeks. I think we're at 3.5" over the last 21 days or something like that. Cereals and oilseeds around here look bad though. It came too late. Wheat is thin, headed out at 6-12" high, with lots of yellow and broke over leaves.

Canola fields are patchy and bolted 7-10 days ago. The only crops I've seen that look impressive are winter annuals, or the odd pea crop that survived the frosts in May/June.

The pastures we haven't gotten to yet are exploding with growth. They look great. The ones we had to graze hard through May and June are recovering very nicely, especially the tame stuff. We're seeding swath grazing this week while the ground's still wet.

[per]

1 inch yesterday. Helps the attitude immensely.

[grassfarmer]

Kind of strange year for grass growth - we got a great explosion of growth starting June 12th when we finally got hotter weather for the first time. We were very dry then though. In the first week of July we got 3 4/10ths but thus far have seen very little extra growth as a result. Is it really still too cold or is it getting a little late in the season to get a great flush of grass? The grass was white here this morning and yesterday it was overcast and only 11C at lunchtime. I guess we will find out whether heat helps later this week - I am still a bit fearful that a week of 28C weather would turn a lot of pastures brown and stop growth for the season.