Floods

[fjlip]

Pro farmer, these are Sask Party regulations, just stating facts, some land drains naturally, that is the lucky areas.

[Jay-mo]

Good post JamesB.
I've always thought a full slough does not absorb any water.
Whereas the same area, properly drained, growing a healthy crop could be absorbing a lot of water between rainfalls.

[farming101]

What might be called the full to overflowing phenomenon is basic math but not well accepted.

Basin systems have formed which were never considered previously. Multiple water bodies have joined and work as a unit. So when a newly discovered outlet for a new basin starts pouring out water like a river after one inch of rain its somehow someone's fault.

[grassfarmer]

My experience with sloughs or wet areas has all been in converting farmland to pasture. At the outset the sloughs are full, low areas have standing water. After establishing pasture and managing it so deep rooted plants flourish the water level in the slough drops and the low lying areas have no more standing water. After a while ( maybe 2 or 3 years) the water level rises again in the slough but not to as high as it was originally. When you get extreme weather events like torrential rain it just disappears into the grassland but 2 or 3 days later the level in the slough will rise but then abate over time.

That is a working water cycle.

Your grain farming practices of growing short rooted crops, only having something living growing there for 4 months of the year is the problem. You are destroying the natural water cycle and no amount of drainage will cure that problem. Look at riparian management - all good practise points to the need to have vegetation on the banks to slow the movement of water away. Yet you are trying to speed the exodus of water from your farmland. Opening up channels so the land floods worse when you get a big rain because the land isn't holding the quantity it could. Fighting nature is a battle you will never win.

[Klause]

Grass you have never lived anywhere wet in Canada.

Explain why all the pastureland around Guernsey sk has turned into water cattails and ducks.


FYI canada has winter... it dictates the length of the growing season... things grow from thaw to freeze... if you've ever dug trenches most prairie grasses and even trees like aspens are extremely shallow rooted...

I agree keeping things growing especially things with long roots like clover is a good thing but it's not a solution to 28 inches of rain in 6 weeks

[grassfarmer]

So which month and a half where recorded 28 inches of rainfall?

[stonepicker]

grassfarmer, is that the best answer you can come up with to klause's common sense post? When it rains excessively,continually water is gonna run somewhere. Pretty hard to deny that.The world is round.

[seabass]

Klause dont waste your energy trying to explain to him the implications of long stretches of heavy rain events. He obviously lives in a different kind of reality.

[SASKFARMER3]

He's real special!

[freewheat]

Guys we have to remember we have quite varied conditions. A guy who does all he can to CONSERVE moisture, is not going to understand those who struggle with far too much rain, and vice versa.

Yesterday we delivered sheep to a farm down south. My daughter observed a field which was alfalfa ground, which had two foot strips left every 50 or so feet. She asked what that was about? I explained they were trying to catch more snow. She asked why. I said so they can keep more snow melt moisture. She was blown away. "But daddy, why the heck would they WANT to have more moisture?" I said look at the treeless open plains. It is windy and dry down here. She found it interesting, and we drove on.

Observant kid. She can not fathom WANTING more moisture. She understands the situation better than many adults.

The theory that trees and grass allow for a better water table is partly true. Up to a point. But then explain the woodlands around here that are 100 years old, but drowned out and dead. The cattails that replaced the grass? What happened here?

Oh, right, it rained, and rained, and rained. And snowed. Causing creeks that for 100 years ran a single time in the spring, to run year round.

Like I and my daughter have difficulty imagining being in a situation where we would hope for more rain, or try to trap MORE snow by leaving tall strips, it is hard to fathom to those in a dry area to hear from those of us blessed with way too much rain, for far too long. My dad would not recognize the landscape around here if he could come back and visit.

And it has nothing to do with farmers draining. It is only about excessive rainfall. And cool, humid summers. Gone are the days on end of 30 in July. We hardly hit 30 anymore.

[ProFarmer]

Grassfarmer you are just a narrow minded twit. In your little world of pleasure maybe jump on your horse and come out to the areas that are so soggy that any more rain just runs off. We have land that has grown crop for generations that is now wall to wall cattails. These areas cannot be drained but still are only flooded by 6 to 8 inches of water. Cattails do not allow any evaporation and persistant rains keep them wet. I gets real frustrating when a little holistic green horn backwards thinking prick like yourself tries to dictate how I should farm. I been to meetings with the like of you always head nodding to DU and government officials that live in a dream world.

[Guest]

right on free , you gotta live it to understand it . we have lots of 40 ft tree bluffs deadfrom water also , takes quite a while for a poplar to get 40' high, and we live in constant fear of those big june dumps ,6-7 " in a couple hours . we have lost lots of crops in middle of june when the big rains come

[grassfarmer]

Sure you will always get pockets that are wetter than normal or drier than normal, that's what makes an average. I realise it's tough for those of you caught in an extreme pocket but in the grand scheme of things 10 wet years are a mere blink in the worlds evolution and part of natural cycles.

Have you ever noticed a new yardsite being developed where the garden is seeded and surrounded by trees and bushes. Over time the trees get bigger and the garden dries out. Yet farmers that don't like wet land keep bulldozing trees - where is the logic in that?

Interesting research going on in SK just now show water infiltration rates 6 times greater under mob grazing versus convention grazing management.

[Klause]

Pockets ? Half the darn province ?


Quit spouting your nonsense all you do is aggravate people on here...


What part of trees are dying from excess water didn't you read? If the trees are dead they don't really sucks up much moisture do they?


By the way when we had cattle and grain the pastures were far wetter than the fields... grain crops pull up an immense amount of water compared to native grasses that adapted to dry conditions over the years.

[farming101]

Dead trees make a good snow fence for many years after their dead.