Thursday Crop Report on a Friday

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Out here in the cold swamp, I'm not confident enough about the status of my crops to predict what they will be like tomorrow, so I will report what they were like as of yesterday.
I haven't seen any activity west of Highway 2 in my travels, and haven't been anywhere else lately.
My own, wheat is turning but has weeks to go still, looks excellent, almost no drown outs. Lodging in small areas only.
Canola is enjoying dry feet for the first time all year. The flooded out areas are taking full advantage and are in full flower now at the end of August, should be ready by Christmas. The remainder looks good, but far from record breaking, it was just too wet for too long, must have lost too much N, and I fertilized less this year hoping to have canola actually mature on its own. The worst hailed canola came back very well, but still has the odd flower. Compaction from combine tracks and seeding is still obvious. Most other mistakes are hidden now though.
Barley is also greening up and heading in the drown outs, the rest is shades of green, but quickly turning now. Very uneven, last seeded is very poor, nearly all in various states of drowned. Earlier by a few days( and a few inches of rain) is mostly very good. Quite a bit of lodging.

Most crops in the area have improved quite a lot since the rains slowed down, at least from the road. But still highly variable. Some complete catastrophes from water, unseeded, unharvested, lots of severe hail. Lots of weeds.
Will need a few more weeks without a killing frost.
Hay still ongoing all over, same with silaging. Pastures very good.

[makar]

30 days ago I thought I would swathing canola in a month, 30 days later nothing changing.

[checking]

In this area, I can't imagine canola in flower at August end. If it were to happen here the name for such a crop would be a farmer that was half a season out.

As of to-morrow, as I can determine what will be left, it will be soybeans. It will be leaf drop before any second week of September frost event for those rascals. It should also be an average non disappointment yield that I won't divulge widely. First year in six that an August rain did not occur.

Those things will really tell you where your better land is, whether slum of the ghetto, or bog of the swamp.

[Richard5]

I commend you on your report. Straight to the point with zero complaining about someone or something only to remind us how the multiple pieces of new equipment in the yard will harvest a crop failure of 51 bushel to acre canola verses the expected and prior years realized of 63 in a flood zone of the past 18 years

[farmaholic]

We're doing wheat, going hard like a sixteen year old watching porn.

How's that Richard5?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I forgot to put location for anyone not familiar. This is straight west of Red Deer about as far west as grain farming is reasonably possible, or too far depending on who you ask, and what year you ask me.

As for canola flowering, it is insignificant area wise, but noteworthy, as I haven't seen it do this before. Canola generally works well in our wet ground since it will recover from a short wet spell( even though it turns all shades of purple and stunted for a while) and still be a decent crop. But this year, the wet spell lasted from seeding, until early August, and apparently it can still recover from that. Will be combining around a few green areas, let the cows clean them up after.
But not unusual to be still flowering by the end of August, we rarely get the flower blasting heat that shuts down canola, and rarely run out of moisture, and fertilize for big yields, so it will flower from early July till late August. The last pods freeze and turn to pepper, some get locked in as greens, but I'll still take a big yield of lower grade than a lower yield of number 1.

I think it was 2015, we were combining standing canola in November and there were still flowers, but that had a lot to do with a very dry start to the year. They didn't freeze until after halloween.

Also edit to add, that I was wrong, just came back from further east, and there is now barley being combined either side of highway 2.

[woodland]

Out here in the cold swamp, I'm not confident enough about the status of my crops to predict what they will be like tomorrow, so I will report what they were like as of yesterday.
I haven't seen any activity west of Highway 2 in my travels, and haven't been anywhere else lately.
My own, wheat is turning but has weeks to go still, looks excellent, almost no drown outs. Lodging in small areas only.
Canola is enjoying dry feet for the first time all year. The flooded out areas are taking full advantage and are in full flower now at the end of August, should be ready by Christmas. The remainder looks good, but far from record breaking, it was just too wet for too long, must have lost too much N, and I fertilized less this year hoping to have canola actually mature on its own. The worst hailed canola came back very well, but still has the odd flower. Compaction from combine tracks and seeding is still obvious. Most other mistakes are hidden now though.
Barley is also greening up and heading in the drown outs, the rest is shades of green, but quickly turning now. Very uneven, last seeded is very poor, nearly all in various states of drowned. Earlier by a few days( and a few inches of rain) is mostly very good. Quite a bit of lodging.

Most crops in the area have improved quite a lot since the rains slowed down, at least from the road. But still highly variable. Some complete catastrophes from water, unseeded, unharvested, lots of severe hail. Lots of weeds.
Will need a few more weeks without a killing frost.
Hay still ongoing all over, same with silaging. Pastures very good.

Finished first cutting hay here two days ago and if it don’t rain tomorrow (highly doubtful) it could bale tomorrow. It needs at least 1-3 inches of rain on it though or the quality won’t be consistent with every other bale we made this year.

Our lone quarter of canola is probably flowering too. Haven’t seen it in 6 weeks since it would probably bother me too much. Why go looking for trouble?

Our barley looks “decent” and I probably just jinxed that now. Lots of weedy fields (us too) from poor timing or lack of weed control during the monsoons. Some peas and drowned out barley coming off.

Second cut is coming great for how late it was cut. Got a little behind on picking bales apparently



Pasture is doing great here too. Hoping for a month without frost, excessive rain, and white ****. I would be fine with blowing the dust outta the rad and air filter on the combines occasionally............ haven’t done it in two years. Not counting any chickens here yet either.......

Good luck AF5🍀

[farmaholic]

Woodland and AF5, are you guys possibly posting from Ireland? The shades of green in woodland's posts might make one think so. Besides the "luck".....you guys seem to get all the rain.

I should post a picture of a patsure close to home base..... Scary in comparison.

[Sheepwheat]

I post from Scotland. Green like June here. Alfalfa and pasture is lush as can be, better than it was in June. And I am WAY closer to you farma, than they are. If there was still time, I would do a second cut and it would yield much better than the first. I am actually concerned that the alfalfa smothers over winter because the regrow is so crazy.

The two albertans are almost exactly like us for climate by what I see them post on here. It helps, because it makes me not feel so alone. The closest posters on here that I know of are. Twenty five, thirty miles away in a straight line, and they are in a different climate zone by about nine.

It is truly bizarre, our little, personal, literally a few square miles here in Scotland. Inch of rain on Thursday night again.

At least they’ve got each other! Lol

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I talk big about wishing I would have moved almost anywhere else to farm, compared to the challenges we have here. But in reality, almost anywhere else looks like a desert when we are used to being this green from snow melt to snow fall(always green grass, green alflafa, green second growth that gets buried under the snow), and it would be depressing. Just driving through most areas of the prairies in July is depressing, with brown everywhere. I feel more at home on Vancouver Island.

It is great for growing cow feed, but doesn't really help grain farming when plants just don't get natures signal to shut down for the year.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Woodland and AF5, are you guys possibly posting from Ireland? The shades of green in woodland's posts might make one think so. Besides the "luck".....you guys seem to get all the rain.

I should post a picture of a patsure close to home base..... Scary in comparison.

Well, don't use the word Luck, and the word Rain in the same sentence around here this year ( or most years), you are likely to get an earful.

[SASKFARMER]

Nice comments Richard.

What do you bring to the table?

I’m waiting

[GDR]

Well, don't use the word Luck, and the word Rain in the same sentence around here this year ( or most years), you are likely to get an earful.

I hear you but I'm sure hoping for some rain tonight. Forcast low of 0C. I have no crops frost free, there are some in the area getting close but not very many.

We actually turned quite dry in August, haying still wasn't fun because of the humidity and really light showers but the grass and all the shallow rooted crops have suffered the last couple weeks.

[sumdumguy]

Let it rain! All lentils and durum #1 DRY. 31 Gedrees here today again and a blistering SE wind that blew my toupee away. Now calling my friend Jean Chretien to see if he has a spare. 😂 No insults for Jean. Just kidding.

[Guest]

I post from Scotland. Green like June here. Alfalfa and pasture is lush as can be, better than it was in June. And I am WAY closer to you farma, than they are. If there was still time, I would do a second cut and it would yield much better than the first. I am actually concerned that the alfalfa smothers over winter because the regrow is so crazy.

The two albertans are almost exactly like us for climate by what I see them post on here. It helps, because it makes me not feel so alone. The closest posters on here that I know of are. Twenty five, thirty miles away in a straight line, and they are in a different climate zone by about nine.

It is truly bizarre, our little, personal, literally a few square miles here in Scotland. Inch of rain on Thursday night again.

At least they’ve got each other! Lol

Seldomseen and i are about 15 miles apart
Cant believe the difference in climate!