It boils down to one event that hit our area and crushed ones spirit of farming.
Some laugh like grass that our area couldn't have had as much rain as I say. Well a study done for the Quill lakes area to the north of us proves what I have been saying. The quills have raised to their highest levels and it has nothing to do with farmer draining of the land. It is all to do with excess rain the last 7 to 10 years. See normal rainfall is around 13 inches in a summer, the highest for the area was 55 and the lowest over the time was 31. The report said that the quills did spill over and head to long lake once before. Some 200 years ago or more. The area north of long lake is salty and that is when a salt lake like the quills moves from excess rain into a fresh it saturates the ground and makes a productive area not worth shit. Now back then the salt content was higher on the quills than today. The quills if they increase by some amount will flood the area to long lake again. But this time they are diluted so shouldn't affect the marine life.
Now the question that's on all Manitoba's mind was it farmer ditching that increased the quill lakes in size.
The study showed that after analyzing photos and sat info the quills increased in size by 1% do to farmers ditching in the area. The excess water has came from one source and that source is the sky in the form of excess rain in summer and excess snow in the winter.
Funny the area that Richie has all their sales is in this area I call the flood zone.
Funny two of the most famous large farms in the area Broad acre and One Earth couldn't make a go of it, its easy to see why.
Funny after all the rain and still farmers try to go on and adapt.
Funny thing is the Fed program for help is good for shit if you lose a slow amount of acres each year.
So yes after 8 shit show years and crop failures and rail shit shows and every thing else that a area could receive you do lose all the positives you had. Its funny when I started nothing scared me, If something came available you tried to get it you were filled with so much piss and vinegar that nothing seemed to matter.
Yes I thought we were a sure crop area because the 80s did not hurt us at all.
But with time you realize mother nature still holds the cards and deals you whatever she wants.
Now missing out on the last boom really hurts. When your acreage is cut in 1/3 and some you seeded and spent money on only to have it gone by fall your costs per acre are out of this world. You see and read all over the place how the last 8 years were the best farmers have seen in 50 years. Yet their you are wearing rubber boots stuck by the side of the road trying to get the fricking pump out before the darn beavers come back and stop some more water from moving away.
So yes I do feel for every farmer who went through the 80s and didn't have a good out come but at least back then you had to seed at 1/2 and put every thing away because the rain never came. You didn't try to make the crop happen only to have it washed away in July.
So yes this spring I finally like all farmers that have made it are breathing a little easier, but were all cautious, because we know that one big rain event from now till August can take us back to that place we all so much hate.
So hopefully our attitudes will change because my good god the rain cant give us any more disasters.
I for one am more positive this spring than I have been in a long while. Yes water is still running, Yes snow is still in fence lines and trees, Yes the ground is still cold and frozen. But the Frost is starting to come out. The Geese are back, the wind is back and even after a three day east wind we have no 3 inches rain or snow storm. Life maybe is getting back to normal.
Yes I do admit this. Alberta land is worth more than Sask land in some places for a reason. IF you can seed early and get timely rains and off in decent time then yes your property is worth what it should be.
So on this Saturday when I get turn a little older, maybe a little wiser, We head out as a family to one of the most peaceful places I know and enjoy the day.
Best in 2015 and be safe its only a crop that mother nature controls the stings.
Some laugh like grass that our area couldn't have had as much rain as I say. Well a study done for the Quill lakes area to the north of us proves what I have been saying. The quills have raised to their highest levels and it has nothing to do with farmer draining of the land. It is all to do with excess rain the last 7 to 10 years. See normal rainfall is around 13 inches in a summer, the highest for the area was 55 and the lowest over the time was 31. The report said that the quills did spill over and head to long lake once before. Some 200 years ago or more. The area north of long lake is salty and that is when a salt lake like the quills moves from excess rain into a fresh it saturates the ground and makes a productive area not worth shit. Now back then the salt content was higher on the quills than today. The quills if they increase by some amount will flood the area to long lake again. But this time they are diluted so shouldn't affect the marine life.
Now the question that's on all Manitoba's mind was it farmer ditching that increased the quill lakes in size.
The study showed that after analyzing photos and sat info the quills increased in size by 1% do to farmers ditching in the area. The excess water has came from one source and that source is the sky in the form of excess rain in summer and excess snow in the winter.
Funny the area that Richie has all their sales is in this area I call the flood zone.
Funny two of the most famous large farms in the area Broad acre and One Earth couldn't make a go of it, its easy to see why.
Funny after all the rain and still farmers try to go on and adapt.
Funny thing is the Fed program for help is good for shit if you lose a slow amount of acres each year.
So yes after 8 shit show years and crop failures and rail shit shows and every thing else that a area could receive you do lose all the positives you had. Its funny when I started nothing scared me, If something came available you tried to get it you were filled with so much piss and vinegar that nothing seemed to matter.
Yes I thought we were a sure crop area because the 80s did not hurt us at all.
But with time you realize mother nature still holds the cards and deals you whatever she wants.
Now missing out on the last boom really hurts. When your acreage is cut in 1/3 and some you seeded and spent money on only to have it gone by fall your costs per acre are out of this world. You see and read all over the place how the last 8 years were the best farmers have seen in 50 years. Yet their you are wearing rubber boots stuck by the side of the road trying to get the fricking pump out before the darn beavers come back and stop some more water from moving away.
So yes I do feel for every farmer who went through the 80s and didn't have a good out come but at least back then you had to seed at 1/2 and put every thing away because the rain never came. You didn't try to make the crop happen only to have it washed away in July.
So yes this spring I finally like all farmers that have made it are breathing a little easier, but were all cautious, because we know that one big rain event from now till August can take us back to that place we all so much hate.
So hopefully our attitudes will change because my good god the rain cant give us any more disasters.
I for one am more positive this spring than I have been in a long while. Yes water is still running, Yes snow is still in fence lines and trees, Yes the ground is still cold and frozen. But the Frost is starting to come out. The Geese are back, the wind is back and even after a three day east wind we have no 3 inches rain or snow storm. Life maybe is getting back to normal.
Yes I do admit this. Alberta land is worth more than Sask land in some places for a reason. IF you can seed early and get timely rains and off in decent time then yes your property is worth what it should be.
So on this Saturday when I get turn a little older, maybe a little wiser, We head out as a family to one of the most peaceful places I know and enjoy the day.
Best in 2015 and be safe its only a crop that mother nature controls the stings.
bu per acre, but where it didn't flood out, it went Ok.
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