Heavy rain on top of recent snowstorms expected to keep producers out of fields for weeks, but moisture still welcome
Looking at all the water sitting on fields for kilometres around his farm west of Winnipeg, Collin Shirtliff had a simple observation.
“This year there’s going to be an awful lot of June seeding.”
A third Colorado-low system poured through Manitoba’s grain country April 29-May 1. Rivers broke out of their banks in many areas. Creeks filled and spilled.
Roads washed out and became submerged.
“Ditches backed up, backed up, backed up and then all of a sudden this overland flooding started,” said Shirtliff, who farms between Starbuck and Elie.
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Many municipalities in the Red River Valley and to the west declared states of emergency and farmers everywhere faced weeks more of delayed seeding as the steady rainfall on April 29-30 added to the saturation from the two previous weekend storms.
The situation was less extreme in most of southeastern Saskatchewan. However, many municipalities with cattle declared emergencies as producers fought to save calves caught in nasty conditions, and several municipalities dealt with road problems caused by melting snow left behind by a recent blizzard.
“For now, it’s just one day at a time,” said Ray Orb, president of Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.
“Seeding is going to be at least two weeks away, maybe longer for some of them.”
One of those delayed seeders is Steven Donald, a Moosomin farmer. He’s getting ready to wait.
“This won’t be the first year we’ve started seeding in the middle of May,” said Donald.
However, if the water sinks in and flows away, while local dugouts fill, the growing season prospects are good.
“For moisture, this is going to be just perfect,” said Donald.
“We were so dry last fall… I think we’re going to be OK.”
Toban Dyck was wondering how OK things will be as he checked out his Winkler, Man., area farmland on May 2.
“There were fields of ours yesterday that were just solid lakes,” said Dyck, a columnist for The Western Producer.
“Some had areas of whitecaps, like a good fishing lake.”
By May 2, water was draining. The Deadhorse Creek, which wends alongside Dyck’s farm, had once threatened to turn the flooding into a long-term event but was dropping May 2.
How will this affect seeding here and in southern Manitoba?
“It’s hard to tell,” Dyck said.
“As soon as we get some sun and wind, I don’t know what’s going to happen. What was looking like utter devastation yesterday is starting to look manageable.”
