St. Laurent farmer Tom Johnson was born and raised on farms in the area and says this is nothing he's ever seen before.
"Our pastures are drying up. The dugouts are drying up, We've actually had to drill two wells to water our cows in two of our pastures," says Johnson. "I'll be 64 years old in November, and I've been farming here my whole life, and I've never seen it this dry. As far as hay goes, there's absolutely no amount for hay. The grasshoppers are eating what's there, and everyone is sitting back, waiting to see if we're going to get a little bit of rain."
Johnson adds he's witnessed the conditions become drier over the past three years. He also expects neighbouring RMs like Woodlands, Portage la Prairie, and others in the Interlake area to follow suit and declare similar states of emergency. Johnson says this is a stark contrast from the flooding St. Laurent received a decade ago.
"It's hard to believe that everything was underwater, and now it's so dry, it's the complete opposite. Going through the drought is worse than the flood," he says. "At least in the flood, we had lots of pasture, and there was hay that wasn't under water. We are way better off when we're wet than when we're dry in this part of the country. When we're dry, we're in rough shape."
Johnson says he's seen lots of farmers leave the industry since the flood, and fears even more family-owned farms will soon start selling off their animals.
He notes, "farmers are the biggest gamblers, so who knows what will happen."
According to the latest models, St. Laurent could see come precipitation next week.
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