The "D" word...

[Sheepwheat]

Again not wanting to sound like a turd or a troll ShitZe disturbing.

But those wet year well if you didnt plant you didnt lose or were on different wavelengths with that th8nking

There is still a cost to saturated soil. Applied nitrogen is gone. Needs to be sprayed several times for weeds. Then the ruts need fixing, machinery that gets pulled out and twisted or broken needs fixing. The soil just isn’t the same for several years, compacted, soured, nutrient exchange and production, is gone. My soil only just recovered to its full potential in the last couple years imo. I was having some pretty poor yields for no reason after the wet years, in spite of applying normal nutrients, it just wouldn’t produce like it could. I believe it was an unseen effect of utter and complete saturation for too long.

Course the basics still have to be paid crop or no crop. Living costs, taxes, land rent, mortgage, iron payments, etc.

Those wet years are the reason we started looking at alternatives to grain. The sheep don’t mind the rain. The grass does good, the hay does better, though trying to get nice hay is always a struggle. My only regret is not having sheep DURING those painful years. Such a productive and profitable critter.

[furrowtickler]

Hopefully not deemed a smart arse question nasty or condescending.

Have any of you guys had total crop failures over the years .

Myself in 82 memory 2700 acres of crop harvested the best maybe 1200 acres 12 to 15 bushels wheat barley grazed the rest.

2002 similar but grain worth $300 per tonne every acre combined.

Since then we seem to be growing better crops on less rain had below average way below but no train wrecks.

No till farming better methods etc etc better fert better chems

Yup , 2000 75% wiped out with hail
2001 and 2002 every ac acre was seeded in this area ..... many never even pulled the combines out .

We had 30% of ave crops ...

Then 2004 had a big crop that froze mid August.... that was nearly as bad cause had to harvest a big crop that was worthless
Took us 5 years to get over those losses .

Strange thing is we just had 3 dry years in a row
This year much better rains ... but had hail on 80% of our crop

Back then drought was getting less than 10 bus / ac across the board .
Drought seems different nowadays

Farming is so easy lol

[chuckChuck]

Looks like a large percentage of the US is very dry to extreme drought.

[bucket]

We have never lost a crop in October for the following year but judging by the cracks in the soil it will take a good rain to help and timely rains for a crop next year....

Imagine having inputs in for a 40 bpa crop and growing half that next year ....guys were concerned with the 36 bpa yields this year...4 bpa doesnt seem like a lot but on canola its 44 bucks an acre....adds up.

Thats something Neil Townsend does not understand.

[farmaholic]

[ATTACH]6776[/ATTACH]
Looks like a large percentage of the US is very dry to extreme drought.

Palmer Drought Index.

Chuck, we're kinda hating it here too.

There are some interesting maps that can be generated from AAFC's Agroclimate Maps.



Last 365 days DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE. It might look dramatic.....because it is.
The Ghetto is in the 140-180 millimeter deficit zone. And remember lines are a bit arbitrary.
Alot of rains that made up our total rainfall for the growing season were almost meaningless.
We've been net drying for a while now.....tapped out in the Ghetto.

[furrowtickler]

We have never lost a crop in October for the following year but judging by the cracks in the soil it will take a good rain to help and timely rains for a crop next year....

Imagine having inputs in for a 40 bpa crop and growing half that next year ....guys were concerned with the 36 bpa yields this year...4 bpa doesnt seem like a lot but on canola its 44 bucks an acre....adds up.

Thats something Neil Townsend does not understand.

Yup been there .
1/3 of our canola barely netted 35 this year due to hail .
Lots of 50’s and low 60’s all around us where no hail .
Like going to Vegas every year ..

[furrowtickler]

[ATTACH]6777[/ATTACH]
Palmer Drought Index.

Chuck, we're kinda hating it here too.

There are some interesting maps that can be generated from AAFC's Agroclimate Maps.

[ATTACH]6778[/ATTACH]

Last 365 days DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE. It might look dramatic.....because it is.
The Ghetto is in the 140-180 millimeter deficit zone. And remember lines are a bit arbitrary.
Alot of rains that made up our total rainfall for the growing season were almost meaningless.
We've been net drying for a while now.....tapped out in the Ghetto.

Very weird dry spot just north of Lloyd
We are fortunate for a change here
Ground worked up very nice this week in all low areas .
NH3 started here in area , working very nice
We have some fert to do at the end of the week before freeze up starts

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Never had a disaster due to drought here. Some well below average grain crops in years like 02 and 03. In 02 we had 1" of rain over the summer, in 03, we had essentially 0. Hay and pasture were poor, but barley still yielded 50 bushels(which is a disaster compared to normal, but amazing considering the conditions), much better in ground with more OM, manure, and better varieties. Knowing what we know now, and changes we have made, probably could have grown record crops both years, similar to what we did in 2018, 2017 with virtually no rain.

Our disasters are too wet, and untimely hail. Like 2013 when hail hit 98% of our acres. Regrew then froze. Baled almost all barley, there was nothing to combine.

[malleefarmer]

I sure hope things turn around.

Im guessing from posts over the years that winter actually brings little rain fall.

Mostly mid spring onwards to fall so your wet season is only 8 or 9 minths or less?

[farmaholic]

I sure hope things turn around.

Im guessing from posts over the years that winter actually brings little rain fall.

Mostly mid spring onwards to fall so your wet season is only 8 or 9 minths or less?

We really don't want any amount of "rain" after November 1, that can turn us into the world's largest outdoor skating rink. It should be snow during the winter. And there's been years of plenty of it too. Unless we get a super slow melt in spring that gives it a bit of a chance to soak in near where it fell, a fast melt only ends up filling the "glory holes". Too much water in a glory hole and you get nothing out of them either. Although ours in the Ghetto are so dry they could end up soaking most of it up. Go into winter with a fairly full soil profile and most of the snow melt just runs off into the low spots (glory holes).

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Essentially at desert here in the wintertime.

I sure hope things turn around.

Im guessing from posts over the years that winter actually brings little rain fall.

Mostly mid spring onwards to fall so your wet season is only 8 or 9 minths or less?

[malleefarmer]

They sowed winter crops earlier than they usually would and, thanks to the regular rain, they can choose whether to cut it for hay, grain or for grazing.

Mrs Herbert said they had already stored two years' worth of livestock feed for future droughts.

This is from NSW were they are currently feasting after 2 years of famine

[Sheepwheat]

We average forty some inches of snow in a winter. Roughly equal to four inches of rain. We usually have ssllllooooowwwww melts, so lots soaks in. Lots runs off too though, no doubt about it.

July is our wettest month historically. Unusual for western Canada.

[woodland]

A Cowboy knows the Blessing of a Good Hard Rain !

I prefer mine slow and steady🌧

Unless the hay is ready to bale..............

[TSIPP]

Some of the dried out alkaline sloughs were blowing on Sunday, it was an absolute whiteout a mile wide, I’ve seen alkali blow but never this bad, now the stubble and green alfalfa are white. I would have taken a picture but my phone at 4 miles away wasn’t going to show much. I’m guessing the badgers won’t have trouble digging holes this winter.