Sigh Of Relief

[jamesb]

You know I remember the 80's too. One thing we don't have now with the wind today is the blowing dirt. In the 80's lots of us were using press drills to seed after 5 passes of cultivator and harrow. The dirt in the air in those days is something I will never forget

[farmaholic]

Some local observations... guys putting them in too early and/or overstocking generally have pastures that struggle compared to the guys who wait longer in spring or don't overstock. More than enough feed to take you through one year is good insurance if it can be had.

Glad I don't have to concern myself with it anymore but have empathy for those who do.

[Guest]

Agchat, I understand to an extent but if you have never build in some type of safety net then you cannot expect much else. Putting up a poor hay crop is terrible and we have been fortunate to have had some dandy ones lately to help build our inventory. I have neighbors that sell any extra hay and then scramble in the spring if they need some. I think farma has it, management is key. I could go on and on about this but every situation is different. We cut 70 acres of oats last year for greenfeed and will probably cut some more this year. Guys will have to get off their $2000/calf bank account buy some feed. Or did it go to a new 1/2 ton, trips, new equipment. All is fine but make sure you have both ends covered. Cattle are dipping and the ride may be over (glad I didnt buy any $3500 bred cows). Time will tell, back to seeding my last bit of canola into what moisture is there.

[grassfarmer]

A lot of dust blowing off farmland here in SW Manitoba today. Looks like the 30s starting over again. Lots of canola sitting in dry dirt or not seeded yet because its too dry. Grass taking some management but at least in a drought I feel you get paid for your management.

[perfecho]

We are finally getting the much needed moisture around Edmonton....it was looking pretty bleak...some plans of taking cows to auction. Quite cool yet...around 0 much of the time, but looking better next week.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Anyone who says too dry is better than too wet has never had livestock. While too wet is a lot of extra work, stressful and expensive for both livestock and crops, too dry with livestock is an order of magnitude worse than too dry with crops.

We've had essentially no precipitation all spring until the past few days, about 4/10" so far since Wednesday. Lowland pastures look very pitiful at this point.

[fjlip]

In very DRY 2002, lots of cattle/bison lost to anthrax.

[may-be]

My big sigh of relief was in 1983. I rented my fathers 2 quarters of land and spent a whopping 16 grand putting in the crop. I then went to work on the oil patch to help pay to get established. I remember almost crying how the crops looked so bad where I was working thinking I was working to pay for a bad investment. when I got home the crops where beautiful.