Friday Crop Report on a Thursday!

[GDR]

Lots here will make 1500-2000$ seed production
Plus maybe $200 bee sales if prices hold
Never saw anything like it

What is the market for bees after you are done with them? Or do you have to winter them for next year? Do they just pollinate or do something else to the plant? We have a dozen honeybee hives but dont know anything about leaf cutters.

[seldomseen]

What is the market for bees after you are done with them? Or do you have to winter them for next year? Do they just pollinate or do something else to the plant? We have a dozen honeybee hives but dont know anything about leaf cutters.

Cutter bees work hard all summer pollinating alfalfa and packing leaf into tunnels and leaving an egg for next year. Once they run out of steam they die. We pick up the nesting blocks and bring them in for the winter. The egg changes to a larva and spins a cocoon where it spends the winter.
Most years you can get back double the bees you put out and you can sell those extra bees.
Bee prices can range from almost nothing up to $130.00 a gallon depending on demand.
10,000 bees is a gallon.

[Guest]

Pollinators only
They live for 6 weeks
Then we harvest their cocoons , incubate them about June 8th
Put bees out july 1st , usually double bees , maybe 4 x this year?
Extra cocoons get sold to the US , anywhere from SFA to $125 per gallon (10000) bees , in my time

[helmsdale]

Today July 23 is the day I give up on crop 2021. Off to Manitoba for a week. Don’t care anymore. No rain will bring this ****er back from the dead. First time fu ked since 1961.

You made it 22 days longer than I did. Most years I'm cruising backroads all of july crop scouting... It's easier to drink beer inside the shelter-belt this year.

[furrowtickler]

We went on a bit of a road trip also this weekend.
Starting north of Tisdale through Saskatoon and then west as far as Meota. Then angled south west all the way to Calgary.
Small pockets of the best canola looked like it might make 30 and that was around Meota and southwest of Battleford towards Unity. Huge areas with canola that is blasted in both Saskatchewan and Alberta might range from 0-15 with some of the worst in the Saskatoon area. No pastures looked decent and really no green grass anywhere.

One thing that did stand out on this trip is how clean and neat all the fields looked. I hardly saw any wild oats or thistle in any fields anywhere. A little kochia around Saskatoon in the worst drought areas.
Fertility looked really good in all areas also. The crop is short from lack of rain but nothing looked deficient from lack of fertilizer.
From what I saw farmers did an excellent job on a very difficult year.

Unfortunately some crops just south of Meota and NE got beat up bad in that storm on Thursday
Some will be 100% damage .
Wheat crop just south of Cochin completely mowed down .
Damage in a large swath from SW of Delmas all the way to spiritwood.
On way to Red Deer tonight
Can sure see where that one big rain did go in early June . SW of Battleford had 2.5 in plus in areas , we had 1.5 or so and east of Battleford had .5 or less
Shows up huge now .
Macklin to Provost is in tough shape

Oh and 90% fields have excellent weed control

[seldomseen]

Unfortunately some crops just south of Meota and NE got beat up bad in that storm on Thursday
Some will be 100% damage .
Wheat crop just south of Cochin completely mowed down .
Damage in a large swath from SW of Delmas all the way to spiritwood.
On way to Red Deer tonight
Can sure see where that one big rain did go in early June . SW of Battleford had 2.5 in plus in areas , we had 1.5 or so and east of Battleford had .5 or less
Shows up huge now .
Macklin to Provost is in tough shape

Oh and 90% fields have excellent weed control

Really not sure where Chuck found weed infested fields because I sure didn’t see any 🤷

[furrowtickler]

Really not sure where Chuck found weed infested fields because I sure didn’t see any 🤷

My guess Manitoba if he seen soybeans

Corn in cowboy county is severely stressed on Hwy 41 and west on 599
Very very dry through here

Crops east of Hwy 36 very poor
Much like east of the Battlefords

Still very poor west of 36 through the windmills
poor crops all the way to Stettler then too dark to Red Deer .
Now it’s off time , onto Banff for a few days of sightseeing 👍

[woodland]

We got 3/4 inch in the past week and it has helped immensely. Got some pea sized hail with it but the damage is less than the moisture gain so I’ll call it a win. Had a neighbour call up and offer a field of hay the to us so we said yes even though all the equipment was cleaned up.

It did 1,600 lbs/ac so about average for this year but more like a third of normal. At least the quality is more like second cut.

The yearlings are enjoying the field we originally intended on haying.

This yearling steer is doing good especially considering he’s got a cleft palate. His tongue is in his right nostril and I admire his determination. By this time next year he’ll be satisfying someone’s tastebuds after chowing down on some grossly overpriced barley over winter.

Continued……

[woodland]

We have been super impressed with how the corn is doing. I think it’s the rockstar of the year here.

This is from the other day with some poor stuff in the front and super nice stuff in the back.

This is the same boy only exactly a year earlier. Totally opposite conditions with too wet, cold, and drowned out instead of dried out spots.

Taking guesses as to whether this will make it or not and what it may amount to……….

This taken a week ago and I won’t be back to look at it for probably six weeks since it’s just going to bother me. Almost as depressing as watching the pastures not regrow after moving the cows off them.

We decided since we’re saving all kinds of money on net wrap, silage plastic, fungicide, fuel, and beer since there hasn’t been many beer clouds that we should add a line item in the budget called “stress relief”.

Bought it off my cousin and I’m sure the kids will enjoy it. Gotta build another mile of fence shortly but will definitely take advantage of the heat to test it out. I guess I better deliver some hay pronto to pay for it too.

I hope everyone’s sanity is hanging in there since it’s quite the ride we’re on. Even Sheepwheat is dry so that’s saying something 😉

Good luck y’all 🍀

[GDR]

Glad you got some rain Woodland, seen a few showers on the radar your way and wondered about you since you've been a bit quiet on agriville. Things going downhill here, still under 2 inches since June 1st. Boat looks like it might be more fun than more farm equipment!

[Old Cowzilla]

Nice to see the green pastures and I would trade you corn fields. And you know what they say about boats, buy lots of gas cus there a lot of fun

[SASKFARMER]

Well boys I got to Winnipeg and in all my years I never seen it so dry nice you hit Manitoba. But the canola from portage to Winnipeg is like ours this year except they have a couple feet of black dirt and usually get more rain than us. Soy needs a rain so bad but they have some wheat to harvest and it’s turning/burning. Corn doesn’t look like irrigated corn without irrigation. Up and down all over the fields.

Yea the only sweet spot from Gull lake to Winnipeg is Indian head they have the loaf of bread fields just south of town. Sad I can see the elevator in Indian head from the roof of my bins. The last rain event got within 5 miles of our place so you could smell it in the dust. Congratulations boys you win hands down.