Larry Fast had just finished filling his seeder with wheat last week and was ready to start up the tractor when it starting hailing on his field 30 kilometre north of Brandon.
The hail and the dark clouds to the northwest convinced Fast that seeding would have to wait for another day, so he grabbed a tarp from his tractor and used it to cover his disc drill.
Fast took the setback well, shaking his head and laughing.
His experience mirrors others in Manitoba this spring, as wet, cool weather has delayed seeding for producers across the province.
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About 50 millimetres of rain fell on central and eastern Manitoba May 13, with Portage la Prairie getting 46 mm, 45 mm in Morris and 41 mm in Dugald, east of Winnipeg. On May 15, following the rain, snow fell from Dauphin into the Interlake.
The precipitation put a halt to seeding, which was already behind schedule in the province.
For producers in the Interlake and the Red River Valley waiting for their land to dry up after extensive spring flooding, the snow and rain reduces hope of getting a crop in this year.
Seeding is further ahead in western Manitoba, but the rain will certainly put the brakes on seeding until the weather warms up, said Pam de Rocquigny, crop specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.
“It will vary on a whole number of factors… the field drainage, if they have good draining soils and the weather between now and when they can actually get back onto the land,” she said.
One producer who may have to park his equipment due to wet conditions is Jim Leslie, who farms by Poplar Point south of Lake Manitoba.
On May 12, Leslie had just begun seeding his 3,000 acres, a job estimated to take 10 days.
“It’s too wet, there’s been no heat. It just doesn’t want to warm up,” said Leslie, who grows sunflowers, oats, barley and soybeans.
Temperatures have only topped 20 C a few times this spring, and May is shaping up as the sixth month in a row with below normal temperatures in Manitoba, based on Environment Canada data.
Fast of Rivers, Man., said it’s been so cold this spring the soil remained frozen in parts of his field. When seeding into canola residue, he noticed the drill bouncing back in places with more stubble.
