Friday Crop Report on a Thursday!

[farmaholic]

After the ugly hot dry winds this spring we have relief from the dryness. We are in good shape now and field's water holding capacity is nearing full. Had another .27 inches last night. My biggest concern is the peas and hope the tap turns off for a bit to give them a break.... everything else will be just fine as well without anymore precip for a while.

Things are looking good here otherwise but need to get on the sprayer when it drys up again. Early stuff needs to be sprayed.

Not that I would say we are extreme wet... but funny how it can go from holy shit it is so dry on top to we have enough for now.

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF IT DIDN'T MATTER?

Too much moisture will be problematic for Durum here...fusarium...more commercial salvage???... and you can spray till you're broke and it won't control it if the pressure is too high. Sclerotinia in lentils and canola and peas... Aphanomyces in peas...uncontrolable.

I used to balk at disease spraying but have learned this type of farming has "put out the smorgasbord" and requires a different approach. An approach, that even when practiced" doesn't always provide results.... Ahhh farming, not for the faint of heart or anyone who knows better.,.,.,.,.,

Stay safe!

[sumdumguy]

Its the Friday before a gorgeous weekend and even more dynamite week. Earliest wheat is almost a foot tall. and greener than green, sprayed, Lentils all sprayed and looking terrific with no signs of disease yet but the damp mornings will likely change that. Everything is picture perfect around Pile of Bones and the province, in general. Except tent caterpillars are cleaning off the poplars all the way to Southey and north of McLean. In the good old days we used t go fishing up north for a week at this time. Enjoy the great week to be alive and don't forget to include your families.

[pourfarmer]

Need rain in the NE edge of Sask, getting nothing but little 1/10ths shots. Dust flying 20 min after the rain stops. Got half an inch since the snow melted, thankfully we had a pile of snow. Patchy germination, pasture/hay needs a good soaker.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Bin we have adapted to this shit! Just sad to see how excess rain can't stop and give us a break! Sick of mud!

SF3, I absolutely sympathize with your plight. We've been far too wet for about the same period of time that you have been. It is heartbreaking, now the opposite extreme last year and this. BUT, you say that you have adapted. I'm curious what that adaptation looks like, and why you are still having trouble with too much water if you have adapted? I would think the adaptation would be subsurface drainage, deep ripping, ridge farming, fababeans, even grass as suggested elsewhere. Every year I do more work to try to rehabilitate those areas, and it seems like the next year the rain is even worse and the efforts weren't enough.

I have plenty of grass on land not suitable for crops, for both pasture and hay, and I also farm though lots of areas that I accept will likely drown out, for the same reason you do, it costs less than going around.

After receiving a total of about 2.5" all spring, mostly in one event, I wouldn't mind seeing some mud again. Places that have never been dry are completely dry. Pastures finally looking like something, but only put cows out on June 1, and not really confident that I won't be feeding again without some serious precipitation.

Crops emerged surprisingly fast and well considering how dry it was and how deep I seeded.

I see some April seeded crops in the neighborhood which look fantastic, and others that got froze so many times and sat in dry dirt so long that if it were mine I would start over again. Still just random patches of thin stands. After very few frosts in April and even March, it froze nearly every night in mid to late May

It has been enjoyable not getting stuck, not being paranoid about compaction. No ruts. Although the novelty of this dust stuff is wearing off quickly. Pretty bad when driving accross a pasture creates so much dust you can choke on it.

[grassfarmer]

.......mother nature is never wrong

SF3 is. Frequently. Trees catch snow - a crop takes up water. Think about it from a drought perspective - a dry year is far tougher on grass than it is on cereals - why? because the grass needs more water. Trees and grass use huge amounts of water, cereals a lot less plus they are only growing for 3 or 4 months a year. Trees, grass and weeds grow from early spring to late fall. Clear the trees and the grass, seed shallow rooted crops that don't use much water. Kill everything else with chemical outside the 100 days of a grain crop - and you wonder why your land is too wet? Always somebody to blame for excess water but you aren't helping yourself by the way you farm.

[SASKFARMER3]

1/2 inch last night! Showers firing up right now. Tell me again grass how it's my fault! Enlighten me with your wisdom!

[grassfarmer]

I just did but I guess your reading and comprehension skills are lacking.

[SASKFARMER3]

i give up your such a rain expert.

[Goodtime]

Grass..you lost me on this one...how are trees going to dry us out in east central Sask? On a 160ac field should I have 140ac of trees or?????

[may-be]

Grass.. I am also lost on this one. How many trees would it take and what would the area do with all that grass? If you ran into a long string of very dry years would you doze down your trees and rip up your grass to save moisture?

[farmaholic]

......its weather.....and will seldom, if ever, be percect!!

[grassfarmer]

I'm not telling any of you to plant trees or grass on your individual farms just challenging SF3s ridiculous assertion that taking out bush and trees dries up the soil compared to growing a cereal crop. Please yourselves how you manage your land but realise how you do it has consequences on your own and neighbours land. I particularly laugh at the idea that trees hold snow versus letting it keep on blowing over the landscape and become someone else's problem - it obviously does to an extent but equally you can't expect it to blow all the way to Manitoba if you cut the SK trees down. Maybe if you get the Ontario guys on board you could get it all to land in Quebec?