Brian Perkins didn’t need a thermometer to tell him it was Ð40 C outside last week. His farm machinery told him all he needed to know.
“The squeal of a hydraulic motor at 40 below is a few octaves higher than normal. It seems like 30 below is not bad, but once it starts to hit that 40, you can hear the squeal,” said Perkins, who owns the Royal View Cattle feedlot east of Saskatoon.
A week-long cold snap saw temperatures plunge between Ð40 and Ð50 in most of the major centres across the prairie region, breaking records dating back to 1966. With windchill it felt more like Ð60 in some areas.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
“These are unprecedented cold temperatures,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Jay Anderson.
In more remote areas it was even worse. The temperature in Key Lake, Sask., fell to Ð52.3 on Jan. 28.
“It was the coldest place in the world that I could find,” said Anderson.
The bitter cold slowed grain movement in and out of the elevator system and complicated the lives of prairie livestock producers.
Cattle were getting fresh bedding every day instead of every second or third day. Extra grain was added to rations to give the animals an energy boost.
“Instead of getting the gains we’d like to see, more is going to maintenance,” Perkins said during the cold spell.
The inclement weather also took its toll on his workers, who were exposed to the elements for six or seven hours a day. Insulated coveralls, heavy coats, balaclavas, toques and lined mitts were the order of the day.
“It takes a whole different type of individual that wants to work in livestock and stumble around in frozen turds when it’s 40 below,” said Perkins.
Bob Blacklock is one of those individuals. He owns the Saskatoon Auction Mart and a cow-calf operation just east of the city. He said the nasty weather, which included a blizzard that dumped 16 centimetres of snow in his area, generally messed things up.
“The complicated issue of calving becomes even more complicated. You can’t leave them outside for a minute,” said Blacklock.
It also had a chilling effect on his auction mart business, which was already experiencing lower than normal cattle volumes due to the BSE crisis.
“The cold snap in the last week has reduced the number of cattle that would have come to town,” he said.
Grain movement also took a hit last week, said Canadian Wheat Board spokesperson Louise Waldman. By the end of the loading week on Jan. 31, CN Rail was 550 cars behind schedule and Canadian Pacific Railway was 1,200 cars behind.
CN spokesperson Jim Feeny said the extreme weather affects everything from rails to air-related braking systems. The company has had to shorten the length of its trains, reduce speed limits and put extra people on duty to conduct inspections and ensure switches are clear.
“It has slowed down the overall velocity of the network,” said Feeny.
“What we’re telling our customers is they can expect delays ranging from 24 to 48 hours in Western Canada.”
But “by no means” has grain movement come to a halt.
Cars are still being unloaded in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, said Feeny.
Waldman said the delays were starting to become a concern at port position late last week, but the board isn’t anticipating having to pay demurrage charges because the ships should still be loaded within the allotted time.
“Presumably this weather will not continue indefinitely,” said Waldman.
Anderson said the heavy cold air mass that descended on the Prairies from northern Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, should move along this week.
“It takes a lot of push over a substantial number of days before it will drag its butt out of here,” he said.
