Mother Nature still wins in Canada, One of the hardest places in the world to grow a crop!

[SASKFARMER3]

After the last few days of wind, so no
spraying, OK the custom guy from town
was out yesterday but you pay for what
you get.
I stick with my comments that mother
nature still rules in Canada. Years ago
I was told that one of the hardest
places to grow a crop in the whole world
was Western Canada. Drought, monsoon,
frost, extreme heat, hail and wind can
all ruin a great great crop. Yet all the
experts don't seem to get that. You can
put every single thing to a crop and
mother nature can take it.
The last two days drove that point home.
First I have been harvesting strait HRS
so finding some interesting things in
our HRS. We gave the crop every single
thing one could ask from Midge on late
to Tilt and Prosario and guess what the
no sprayed to sprayed strips their is no
real difference. Field after field. So I
have come to the conclusion that this
years crop was damaged by leaf hoppers
on the hrs and aster yellows more than
any one would have thought. If their is
no real difference for midge we probably weren't effected. Saw them but maybe not
the threshold we thought. On fusarium
probably the very hot week at heading
helped with this. Leaf hoppers and aster
yellows in HRS i believe their is jack
shit you could do.
Yield is still their for a average but
you harvesting 60 plus straw.
So again mother nature still runs the
ship and that is the reason over paying
for land in western Canada is not a
option. Renting from land companies to
pay their shareholders is useless when a
crop is destroyed by high winds. Simply
farm what one has, do a great job on it
and piss on the land companies. Then see
how long their around.
One neighbor was complaining how his
canola ran 14 and he has a fall rent
payment on the land of 50.
Again mother nature will always win in Western Canada.

[cottonpicken]

My buddy hired a guy from ontario to run steamer
truck(they go out to service rig site to warm stuff up
before the crew gets there,up at 4 in the morning
type stuff).

I tried telling him that -25 with no wind wasn't really
that bad but once the wind starts it quickly turns to
hell,i told him it was the wind that really ruins our
weather other wise it would be an ok place,he said he
like working in the cold over the heat,guess we'll see..

[SASKFARMER3]

Your right in the winter hauling or
working out side in minus 40 is ok. Heck
with out wind its not even that bag but
as soon as the wind stats up your
pouched. Even the tractor cools down
quick. Oh I hate wind more than any
thing when its a hurricane. Yesterday
was a rough one. Imagine if we were half
and half like the 70s, it would have
been a very very grey day. Actually I
remember a day in early 80s where we
quit combining because the wind and dust
were so bad you couldn't see.

[DogPatch]

shelterbelts were planted for a reason, and while they wouldn't have helped much in the last few days, they would have helped some. Now everyone is tearing them out. No figure?

[fjlip]

Temps of minus 5 Calgary area.
Any vulnerable crops in S AB?
Golf ball hail with wind in AB also.
Super combine job if that happens.
And 2012 is still NOT over. What else?

[sjc]

Major hail damage in the Peace around Falher on Sunday. Not huge crops up there but still 30 bushel canola crops in swaths at 80-100% gone is not fun. Mother nature does rule.My cousin had 12 quarters of canola left with no hail insurance and 6 quarters done. Needless to say thats going to be a costly storm for him.

I have done 3 quarters of canola so far here in St.Paul - yields are pretty good (40 - 45) but I also see no difference in fungicide versus no fungicide. Both sprayed and unsprayed have sclerotina but both seem to have occured late and did not effect the yield. I split a quarter and had no difference. I didnt spray the barley and it ran 75-80. Wheat is still standing.

Ill tell you one thing though - the Bayer reps better not come around here. That L150 that lodged last year because it was a 'perfect storm' should have had to swath the crap I had this year. Twisted, mangled flat on the ground pile of crap. I have so many piles on that field it is unbelieveable. I think the cleavers stood better. And imagine its premium priced this year but dont worry Shaun, the yield will more then make up for the lodging. Ill try to get that done next - I figure it will take me an extra 2 days to get through the piles and blocking.

Lucklily the wind didnt do too much damage around here - I still have a swath to pick up. Good luck to you all and lets hope the weather cooperates for everyone from here on out.

[wilagro]

Perhaps you guys need some help.
Here is a site which lists a number of gods to pray to so that you can get your crops harvested.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/romangods/a/101910-Gregory-Floods-Roman-Gods-And-Goddesses-Of-Agriculture.htm

Perhaps the god OPS might help.

If that doesn't work, just pray that the Ritz hears your prayers and comes to the rescue.

[pourfarmer]

all you guys bitch and complain about the
wind, but your the first guys pulling out
trees and shelterbelts to farm every god
damn acre possible, maybe your granddad
did know what the hell he was doing when
he planted those trees in the fence row.

[fjlip]

Chuckle chuckle, the local BTO trackhoe working as I type getting rid of leftover brush piles.
Guess whose canola swaths are the worst?

There is justice, which ever god is directing consequences!

[riders2010]

Over the years many neighbors got upset with me when I didn't allow them to clear the line between our fields. Sure there is the odd tree that falls etc. but there is never any argument over where the line is and man did it make a big difference on 2 fields of canola at least 40 to 50 acres out there is little wind damage after that there is 30 % plus so figure that out in dollars.

[fjlip]

If I would have been making the rules a hundred years ago, every quarter section would have 100' deep of trees along the west and north fence lines. About 12 acres worth off of 160.
We would never see this kind of disaster!
Micro climate perhaps?
Would have helped when tillage was the rage, and yesterday.

[freewheat]

That is kinda how my owned land is.
Surrounded by woods on several sides.
Its beautiful indeed! And yes, my canola
that is in the bushland is staying put.
But unfortunately half of my canola is
on the newly balded praire where the
owner a couple years ago, HAD to have
the extra acre, and pushed the bush
down. Scattered badly on those fields.

And micro-climate? I had canola on one
of these fields that went over fourty in
2004. In the open, yields were 0 to 3.
My canola was no earlier than the other
stuff. I actually had wheat adjacent to
this canola that weighed 42 pounds that
year, and a zero yield flax crop. But
the quarter sheltered by bush went 40.

The guy who hassles me continually to
remove a fencline, and thinks trees are
evil, had his barley swaths blow around
yesterday, not a tree in sight. But on
my adjacent field to his north, with
trees on three sides, I have a few
canola swaths blown a bit, but not all
that bad.

I aint a treehugger, but I do hunt, and
enjoy having a place to hunt I can walk
to in 3 minutes. Thing is, all the tree
pushers beg to hunt on my land! I think
not!

[Potashprincess]

We lost 15 bpa minimum on 600acres, some rolled some not, fence line or no fence line, the wind took no prisoners. In fact our worst field, a 40 bpa down to a 20bpa was a treed on all four sides... i like fencelines too but they don't stop hurricanes

[Hopperbin]

Only way to tarp a truck in a wind like that would be up against a tree line think about it then.

[Potashprincess]

Hopper i dont have to think about it, I was doing it. Did you lose 20 bpa or more from wind? I did and I seen what fields were affected most severley, no rhyme or reason...and fyi, 75% of our land has fencelines...