Before ol' man winter decided to return to the Westman Region, the snow was almost completely gone. But the recent series of weather systems that hit southwest Manitoba has added more snow to the landscape, and more pressure on farmers itching to see the black stuff in their fields, not the white stuff.
Let's just say we're all wishing those Colorado Lows would just stay on their side of the border!
Minto area farmer, Jake Ayre of J&C Farms, is still fairly positive that seeding won't be as late as last year, as long as the snow systems stay 'over there!'
"We're anxious to get going, and we're doing the checks over our equipment and getting everything ready," shares Ayre. "We'd love to be in the field next week but unfortunately that won't be a reality this time."
Ayre goes on to remind us that it was in mid-to-late May when farmers were able to start seeding last year, no thanks to the massive winter storm that plowed through the region in late April, creating havoc for grain farmers as well as cattle producers during the calving season.
"On our farm we're watching the soil temperatures for when we start sowing our crops," explains Ayre. "Soybeans and corn, we usually start with them, and barley and wheat, we don't want those freezing rows at night. So, we need temperatures staying above 2 degrees consistently. Otherwise, you're just putting seed in the ground, and they're just going to sit there and suffer from cold stress, and you might lose germination."
But it's tough to get a crop in when you've got a 3-week window till the crop insurance deadline, he adds. "...like we had last year. That was tough. It was stressful with a lot of long days."
Ayre says it's important to remember last year's seeding date. J&G Farms started planting on May 24th, and yet they still had a fairly good crop.
"We still got a crop off, fortunately, and I know lots of other people in the area did. So, we started sowing on the 24th of May last year and it worked, so I'm thinking even with this delay we're still quite a bit earlier compared to last year. Even with the current weather that we're having, we're very optimistic that we'll be in the fields earlier than last year," he adds.