Record rainfall that is hammering grain and oilseed producers has delivered an unexpected windfall for beef producers.What was shaping up to be a difficult year for ranchers, cow-calf producers, forage growers and pasture managers is now looking like an exceptional growing season, said Lorne Klein, a regional forage specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture.Hay land and pastures that were showing stress due to lack of moisture last fall are recovering well and feed supplies should be plentiful.“We’ve had a tremendous year for pasture and forage production so far with the amount of rain we’ve had in the last month or so,” he said.“I would be very surprised if there was any shortage of feed going into the winter. At this point, our winter forage supply is almost locked in already.”The rain could not have come at a more opportune time for producers in western Saskatchewan and much of Alberta.Drought-affected producers were selling their herds last fall, culling aggressively or pushing their grazing rotations in an effort to stretch limited feed supplies.However, record precipitation across most of the West has helped stressed pastures recover and left well-managed pastures in exceptional condition.In some areas, seeded perennials are flooded out or showing signs of water stress in low-lying areas, a scenario that was almost unimaginable just a few weeks ago.Neil McLeod, a cow-calf producer and sales manager for Northstar Seeds in Rosetown, Sask., said the transformation over the past two months has been remarkable.“In general, pasture conditions haven’t looked this good since the 1970s,” he said.“But there are patches out there that are going to take years before they get back to a normal situation because they’ve been overgrazed for so long.”He said the Rosetown area has received three to four times more precipitation than normal this spring.Area producers who managed their pastures carefully are reaping immediate dividends.“The pastures that still have good root systems underneath are in great shape,” he said.“Some guys were trying to pay the bills by keeping the cows (and grazing too heavily), but for guys that looked after their forage crops or pastures, a year like this makes them look like experts.”Jeremy Brown, a cattle producer from Cutknife, Sask., said recurring spring rain has brought timely relief to grass producers in his area.“In early April I would have described our situation as desperate but in a matter of six weeks, we went from desperate to soggy,” he said.“The grass growth is just tremendous this year.… Even some of the stuff that hasn’t been managed really well is really rebounding.”Travis Portz, who has 400 head of cattle near Piapot, Sask., said pastures in his area are also in good shape.He said 250 to 300 millimetres of rain fell this spring, more than he can remember in his 20 years of raising cattle.“I’ve never seen rain like this,” he said. “There shouldn’t be a feed shortage … so it’s good for us cattlemen.”
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