Summary of what worked and what didnt in 2015

[SASKFARMER3]

In our area make it black had very positive results. Like our friends in the Red river valley maybe the only way to win this battle with excess moisture is as soon as the crops off spike then later put down anhydrous and finally harrow it off. Or Burn or Kelly or what ever.
2015 was a fun year that started dryer than we have seen in a long time then the typical moisture hit and on a regular basis all year right up to last nights rain then snow event.
So what worked, Well taking heavy wheat stubble and burning it end to end then seeding peas into this warm seed bed created one of the best pea crops around. We did half our acres this way the other was direct into wheat stubble. Results were way better on burnt ground. Less disease and plants stood better. Disease root rot is what I am meaning the rest were handled with fungicide.
Wheat on ground that was worked came up fast plus this year for the first time in years a burn off was not needed on two thousand acres do to working last fall. Yes some 30 plus years of spraying every acre maybe has some thing to do with it.
Canola was seeded heavier than usual and had a cost but with the cold spring frosts we were able to get a nice stand and go very well all year.
Canola was seeded into double harrowed wheat stubble or burnt black or spiked fall before. Really no difference except the last fields seeded to burnt ground had a higher yield by far.
Spraying a fungicide on the 2015 wheat crop did help out with Fusarium as our area has it bad. Its a plumper kernel and grading most a 1 to a 2.
Barley was seeded thicker this year and results were good but still the malt game is kind of a killer when its on hold all over so really its nice feed.
Oats looked like a dud all spring and except for the fact it was harvested in November it did relatively well.
So burning and working and Kelly had all plus consequences for 2015. But remember we were extreme wet.
Fungicide still was needed on cereals but Canola it was a waste of money. Some concoctions that promise strong root development etc. didn't really show any response.
Now on every farm their is stuff that didn't work.
Good workers is a real problem. Yea people can say they know what their doing and want a big wage but in a week or two it is shown how much they really know. Yes Family is trained from a young age what works and what doesn't.
We definitely need a permanent worker still looking. Family is coming up fast so labour will not be as big of a issue in another three years.
Spay seed and fert in only areas of the field where water will not take crop away. After years a floods it doesn't take more than a few inches of rain to get a crop wrecked in our area. So why waste money seeding areas that don't have potential. If its wet in spring don't mud in as its a dud. If its dry take a chance but remember one or two big rain events and its over.
One other thing we should use way more than we do is our dryer system. Start a day or two before the rest run it through the dryer and bag or sell, Aeration is nice but not the same. Those early days can get used up real fast in October if the weather turns ugly.
Slow down seeding speed really does make a difference.
Proper drill set up also has to be talked about. Just because it was wet the year before doesn't mean you should change the depth for the next year.
Seed a little deeper some times works just as good as to shallow.
Get seed tested, but funny the seed that the lab said to toast and not used was put in a plot and the treated and non were almost exact for germ and final out come.
Soy we went with just one inoculation this year and had excellent results. But a note it was on soy ground before.
Still pays to clean fields up in fall as snow makes sloughs. Bull rushes are a problem.
Strait cutting canola is nice but to bet the whole farm on this method in our area isn't a wining idea. Swathing strait cut varieties at the 90% or better level works just as good and harvest is real easy.
So as the year comes quickly to a close it looks like every other farm. Some things work and some things don't.
Best of luck in 2016.

Also what did others find that worked and what didn't.

[farmaholic]

-Seeded too early this year...
-No a drop of fungicide used...no way it would have paid.
-Canola crop looked a bit shitty in places because of MRB, fert stranded. It had 50 lbs of S15 as a starter.
-No burning or preworking, just heavy harrowing.
-Could see down the 10 inch spaced rows pretty much all summer.
-First meaningful rain came July 19--no more seeds just plumped up what was there.
-Quality was good, Quantity more than sucked. Canola surprised us, for the type of year we had-happy with results.
-Thank God we had NO crop establishment issues, pre working would have ****ed that up. Maybe early seeding was the best way to get good crop establishment as dry as it was, and became, before meaningful rain arrived.
-Sprayed everything as usual at in crop herbicide time. No corners cut. When the July rain came, everything(weed seeds and some volunteer shit) that didn't germinate because the drill threw it up into the DRY ridges between the seed rows, all that stuff came in spades... what a mess. sitting in the high combine seat you could just see the patch work of where there was enough moisture in lower spots and draws to germinate alot of that stuff compared to the high ground that was loaded with growth. Had to post harvest spray early to kill that mess, it was sucking up valuable moisture and crop nutrients and it had potential to set seed(millet, canola, flax, you name it).
-What a beautiful fall and early winter-should have done way more productive projects. I'm out of gas...

[Guest]

haven't been able to make ourselves burn yet . guys that did sure we're glad to see rain come when it did . we were about 1 week from a bad drought , canola and wheat was hurt some . canola had about 4 " in main stem with no seed . we are always too wet here same as you guys . we used to burn and work the piss out of our land and it got so hard it was unreal. we are however , knifing nh3 in in the fall . that sure helps our wet problem . we left some test strips (80 ac ) in flax and canary with no fungicide . that was an expensive lesson to relearn .anywhere from 5-9 bpa gone . caramba gave us some #1and 2 wheat same as most years. a rotary ditcher has been biggest improvement on our farm .use it every year she lets us . not sure if we're gettin anything out of our fung on oats or not ? half barley gone for malt other half on hold , high vomi, was sprayed with fungicide. we find our early seeded crops don't need a burn off , but we do spray every ac in fall with glyphosate . all in all, decent year , prices not that bad if all costs weren't out of control like they are

[tweety]

One data point. How will this help for 2016?

[farmaholic]

Tweety, you're right. But take 2015 and the cumulative knowledge and experience of all the years you grew a crop and use it to the best of your ability in what 2016 presents. No two years are exactly alike. All the best in 2016. Adjust your sails to which ever way the wind is blowing. Be FLEXIBLE, it will help ensure you're around for years to come. You know the definition of insanity....

[TOM4CWB]

SF3,
Learned to pray, hope.... And be humble!
Two years unlikely to be the same... Exactly the case; just about opposites... 2014 and 2015!

Say less...

All the Best for 2016
Merry Christmas

[SASKFARMER3]

Well said! Some work some don't.

[TOM4CWB]

BTW
The Railways Lied
They Did NOT take the Writ off my land... Only off my personal assets... Which I didn't know they did to start with

Never Trust CNCP ...they got paid... These guys are criminals.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Seeding late worked better here, at least it did until the early Sept frost. But potential was far greater, was about equal after the frost. Too dry till late summer.

Worked ground was a disaster. Lost what little moisture there was, and it wasn't replaced with rain. No-till was a saviour for me this year.

FUngicide on barley had no yield benefit at all. On wheat I didn't leave a big enough test strip to measure, but was not visible at any point in the year.

A no brainer for most of you, but a first for me, weeds no rain = a big loss in yield. A lone thistle, or a rosebush in a fenceline took out all crop within a few feet, use all the moisture. Poplar trees ( classified as a weed in my books) killed it for 50 feet.

Invigor still handles stress better than anything else. Dekalb the worst.

Straight cutting green flowering canola in November is a challenge, could write a book.

Seeding depth was critical this spring, canola almost couldn't be too deep. Although there were places I got barley too deep, small knobs etc.

Planning for mother nature to play fair didn't work. rained in every direction but here. And normally that would be a good thing, but not this year. Almost always too wet before.



Crops yield a lot more than they look on a dry year.

Not sure if any of those lessons can be applied to future years, as this was so far from average.

[tweety]

if no two years the same, do we ever learn anything farming?

[Partners]

In this area we are close to the same every yr..We are usually to wet, colder than most..Live in the snow belt, that gives us more snow than most..
Crops do better in yrs. where we get under 10 inches of rain.
Crops here were OK, but not Great like some areas..Too cold to start.Pods didn`t fill on the canola.Wheat was 1-2-3 in grade..
Most guys work there land now, lots of N goes down in the fall..like the old days..We never did change from that habit..
Good luck in 16 to all..

[TOM4CWB]

Tweety,

We learn two things:
1) No two years are the same... count on it!

2) NEVER trust CNCP... they are above the law... common folks must obey.

[binthere]

the writ of execution against your land will haunt you. even though you say it has been paid it remains on record through land titles or personal property registry for future reference. similar to a criminal record. as far as the writ on personal property that you say you were not aware of that is very unlikely. unless the personal property was not included in the original writ of execution and it was a lien made by cn cp against said property.

[TOM4CWB]

Mistrust needs to be the cornerstone... of any dealing with CNCP. They are economic terrorists.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I seems to me that a weather pattern lasts just long enough to accept that this is the new reality and adjust accordingly, then it turns 180 degrees, and the old play book needs to be thrown out. I know that everything I learned in 13 and 14 about seeding into mud, was completely irrelevant and harmful this year.