After weeks and weeks of drought, many parts of Manitoba got some desperately needed moisture.
About 25 to 50 millimetres of rain fell on northwest, central and southwest Manitoba Aug. 24-25. The precipitation should aid the re-growth of pastures, which have been suffering and turning brown across the province.
Manitoba Agriculture weather station data shows that a number of towns received significant moisture:
• Ste. Rose du Lac – 45 mm
• Russell – 100 mm
• Plumas – 35 mm
• Boissevain – 30 mm
• Reston – 30 mm
However, less rain fell on Manitoba’s Interlake region. Places like Teulon and Eriksdale got 10 mm of precipitation or less.
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In some areas, the rainfall could help soybean crops that need moisture for pod fill.
After every storm…. #mbstorm @weathernetwork pic.twitter.com/GSen0ARXsc
— Chantel (@Chantel14) August 26, 2019
“Precipitation is still below average in most regions and is still needed,” Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers said in its weekly Bean Report. “Although it is too late for early maturing crops, soybean and dry bean crops that aren’t yet at full maturity could use some rain to maintain yield at this point.”
The rain should be beneficial for pastures, possibly allowing producers to keep livestock on pasture for a few more weeks. In the third week of August, from Neepawa to Dauphin and toward Eddystone, almost every pasture was brown and it was difficult to find shoots of green grass.
Some livestock producers have put out round bales and other supplemental feed for cattle on pasture, because there was almost nothing for livestock to graze.
“Pasture conditions are diminishing quickly in the region, particularly continuously grazed pastures,” Manitoba Agriculture said in its weekly crop report, describing conditions in the northwestern region. “Dugouts are also very low or dry around Ethelbert, Rorketon, Eddystone and Alonsa with dugout levels reported to be 0 to 40 percent of capacity.”
The rainfall is not enough to re-fill dugouts, but more rain was forecast for Aug. 26-27 in Manitoba.
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
