No Harvest for You!

[freewheat]

Good explanation! It is hard to fathom or explain, unless you live it. Only difference here is it started getting wet in the fall of 2005. Another thing that happens is land you can not even access as well. I have a piece of a quarter that I have not been able to seed since 2004, because of a combination of ridiculous rainfall and never ending beaver issues. I still pay taxes on this land. I still make payments on this land. But it has not generated revenue for 10 years.

The other thing. In the wet areas harvest has not started. Dry areas it is half done or more. Frustrating.

[farmaholic]

An indication of the extreme wet is some areas are the dead trees in water, both willows and poplars that once hemmed the slough edges are now in the slough. Those trees didn't just show up in the last 5 years, they've been there for decades in some cases.

Soil zones developed across the Prairies according to the sub-climates, where do you farm and ask yourself what should be usual for your area.

Then there are the extremes, both sides too... To expect constant weather is foolhardy. Play the hand you've been dealt to the best of your ability, what else can you do?

[vvalk]

Explain all you want but what I hear from the horses mouth is peas and canola averaging well over $600 an acre. Don't care how hard it is your still getting $600 an acre

[farmaholic]

I'm not making excuses for anyone, just an observation. SF3 can defend himself.

Would I like better this year? You bet!! I had better in previous years. Can it get worse? You bet!! My Pappy says, "its never so bad that it couldn't be worse". No guarantees.

[SASKFARMER3]

God v you use to represent farmers and you have no clue on farming in western Canada. Each area is different. Alberta isn't the bread basket of Canada. It grows a good range of crops but so do other areas from southern Manitoba to various areas in sask. but if your dry for 8 years or more even the pivots will not help.
Our excess rain for years destroyed lives, land and farms.
Yet you a smart albertan don't get it. Frank and free wheat and others do.
Travel out from your bubble and look around excess rain year after year destroys not makes better. Go back to school #3.
We're close to being back need three more good dry years.

[TOM4CWB]

SF3...; rain at harvest is abnormal in Eastern SK? How much damp or tough grain have you actually harvested this year? ""NO HARVEST FOR You"?!"
SF3 spend some of you excess windfall money and time on drainage like the rest of the world that has rain like your farm!!!

[SASKFARMER3]

V is crying I guess because for first time in 10 years maybe rain quits and dry is dry, I don't know but for the first time we get a crop that is almost back to normal after 10 years. Its a time to be very happy.
I just stated a fact the weekend was not great for harvesting. Rain and rain. Yes its early hell we harvest till November mid if we have to. Yes Tom we have dryers etc To handle the mud. But like a earlier comment what started out as such a sigh of relief that the wet years were maybe heading away has led to it returning again. So yes I have lost some acres due to flooding but whats left is nice for the first time in 10.
Guess what its also gave us 100% water table back and its only September 1st. Crop 2016 is starting to look like it could have a good start. That I am thankful for.
But Bull shit from some that they cant see that when one area had major issues for years wasn't normal and they made leaps and bounds because dry areas finally had moisture. Well when it goes back to normal some of us that have had no fun are happy and Ass holes try to take that away.
Its Canada and excess rain doesn't make a wonderful crop year in year out. Similar drought takes you out.
Good harvest every one as yesterdays first real windy day was a very welcome site. 17.9 at 6 we should be getting close.

[sumdumguy]

I too am wondering, have you explored drainage projects in your area SF3? In the Wascana flats around Lewvan, Riceton, Gray, farmers pay a yearly levy to drain into a large man-made ditch. A lot of that land would be flooded and unseedable many years. It may be an option in your area. The longer you wait, the more expensive it will be.

[jensend]

Was talking to an oilfield construction contractor in western saskatchewan a while back he said fifteen years ago he could just strip topsoil off a lease. now they have to rip it first. That pretty much is when zero till became universal. He said the soil isn't taking the water like it used to. Just saying.

[sumdumguy]

It stands to reason Jensend. That Zero-till story is being written: on one hand, I think that all that straw that covered the ground with total absence of moisture was a saving grace, but when the soil is never turned over, you gotta wonder about the hard layer beneath and water absorption. Not to mention the explosion of chemical use. It's definitely an easier way to farm, but....

[Braveheart]

Zero till is NOT an easier way to farm. It's a different way to farm. Shortcuts lead to failure.

Jensend, your oilfield contractor is sniffing too much H2S. Our zero till fields (since 1988) are so mellow it's hard to compare them to neighborhood hard pan conventional fields.

[jensend]

Braveheart Im sure the top couple of inches is mellow. How about a foot down?

[farmaholic]

Or sprayer trails. Sometimes I will change it up a bit. RTK compaction....lol. I was jokingly going to point out sand really never compacts (its not as bad as you may think here, its a mixed bag of tricks).

We are in a harvest lull. Sprayed some flax today and started on cleaning up the mess weeds and volunteers. First peas have been off for a month now. This will be a methodical timed process. Early stuff is ready but more recent fields need time for the residue to settle (in a "few" spots) and stuff to grow through it. And hopefully a shot of rain to help settle stuff and wash the plants down. A bit of an unnerving observation today, it was kind of hot and windy here today, the bolting and early flowering volunteer canola looked wilted. We need some rain to recharge the soil. Lots of time yet, never lost the next year's crop is September yet, I hope :-)

[Braveheart]

We can take a 10" screwdriver and with little effort push it to the handle.

When we soil test, the people probing can't believe what they pull up.

Heavy rains don't pond on our fields. They do on other fields that are conventionally farmed in the area.

In the wet years, wetter than SF3, we seeded fields beside neighbours stuck to excavator depth.

[fjlip]

Perfect hot dry windy July day here, 20% humidity, wheat lost 4 % down to 13, combines everywhere tonight. Hope it lasts a few weeks.