Major Difference in Prairie Soil Moisture

May 21, 2021

Rain and snow now and in the coming days will no doubt help, but much of Western Canada remained well behind a year earlier in terms of soil moisture as of the end of April.

As can be seen by comparing the two maps below, the moisture situation was considerably different a year ago. That is particularly true in southwestern Manitoba, where soil moisture in 2020 was actually rated surplus in a couple of small pockets. In contrast, much of the same area is now considered short to very short on moisture

Meanwhile, the bulk of Prairie grain belt last year was reported to have adequate soil moisture, while many of those same areas today are considered ‘short.’

This year’s moisture problems have been compounded by a drier-biased spring that followed mostly dry fall weather and a winter that saw far below normal amounts of snow. The rain in the snow in the forecast now is expected to help improve conditions for early crop emergence and development but not significantly alter longer-term soil moisture conditions.

Click here to see more...

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER AND GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to hit 10,000 subscribers, and when we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn. Sign up for exclusive access to tickets and details.