Weekly Crop Report: August 7, 2018

 

Southwest Region
 

Little to no rain over the past week.  Hot and dry weather is turning crops quickly. Major thunderstorms with hail activity around the north and south of Hamiota, causing crop damage.  
 

Grasshoppers are becoming prevalent in field margins.

 

Winter wheat and fall rye are being harvested.   Most spring wheat is in the hard dough stage. Some spring wheat fields desiccated last week and more this week.   Harvest starting in early seeded barley. 

 

Majority of canola has finished flowering.  Fields with low rainfall have short plants with aborted pods.  Most canola is at 30% seed color change or more.

 

Field peas ready to harvest.  Most of the crop looks excellent except for disease in low spots.   

 

Majority of sunflowers are flowering (R5). Corn is tasseled and starting to fill cobs. Corn and sunflowers are starting to show heat stress with down-turned or curled leaves.

 

Soybean crop is variable depending on moisture levels. Majority of crop is at R4-R5 stage. Many soybean crops are exhibiting moisture stress on hills or light land by tipping over leaves and dropping lower leaves.

 

Pastures range from poor to good. Not all of first cut hay is put up.

 

Dugouts are 50% full.

 

Northwest Region
 

A mix of temperatures with mostly cooler/wet conditions during the week.  The weekend brought some intense weather, including hail in the Swan Valley area, Gilbert Plains, a small band in the Dauphin area, McCreary and Rorketon. A large tornado touched down near Alonsa.

Hail damage to greenfeed and second cut hay fields is being determined.

 

Harvest of Fall Rye has started in the Dauphin area; spring cereals, including wheat, barley and oats are in the dough stage and ripening. 

 

Majority of canola done flowering and in pod-filling stage.  Sunsclad evident in podded canola. 

 

Desiccation of peas have begun in the Swan Valley last week with the rest of the region to start this week.  A small amount of peas in the Swan Valley have been harvested.

 

Soybeans in R3 to R4 stage.

 

Remaining fields of first cut hay will be put up this week.  Greenfeed cutting may start earlier than normal this week, to take advantage of the good weather.  Corn silage crops are advancing well. 

 

Pastures and dugouts remain in good condition where adequate rainfall been received.  Second cut hay harvest for beef operations will begin this week while nearing completion for dairy producers.

 

Central Region

Sunny and warm to hot daytime temperatures for most of the week, while some night temperatures in the single digits. A rainstorm over the weekend resulted in hail in the southern part of the region.

 

Winter cereals are ripe and harvest is mostly underway. Winter wheat yields in the Morris area reported 50 to 60 bu/ac.

 

First harvested spring wheat fields in the Red River Valley reported as 40 to 70 bu/ac with good quality and protein. Desiccation is occurring in other fields to even up maturity for straight cutting. Oats are ripening and swathing started with some harvest occurring in the earliest fields reported as 70 to 100 bu/ac. Barley fields maturing rapidly with earliest fields harvested. Most barley crop is being swathed.

 

Canola pod development is progressing with earliest fields have been swathed and desiccated.

 

Field peas maturing and being desiccated with some harvesting in the Holland to Treherne area reporting 30 to 45 bu/ac.

 

Early flax fields at 50% brown bolls.

 

Sunflowers in full flower stage (R5.5) and most advanced field dropping ray petals (R6) and drying down.

 

Corn developing rapidly and most fields in the milk to dough stage. Corn in the Red River valley suffer showing signs of moisture stress.

 

Soybean fields are in the R5 to R7 stage and most advanced in the Red River valley.

 

Edible bean pod development is progressing.

 

Irrigation continues on potato fields. Some potato fields desiccated to terminate top growth ahead of harvest. 

 

Pasture conditions continue to deteriorate from the lack of precipitation. First cut of alfalfa done. Hay yields well below normal due to the dryer conditions. Green feed being cut to make up for hay shortfall, as well as cutting of ditches and dried up sloughs.  Some second cut alfalfa taken with good harvested quality where moisture was adequate, but most fields have too poor regrowth to harvest. Livestock producers are sourcing alternative feed sources to meet their needs.

 

Livestock water supply considered adequate, but water levels are going down in dugouts.

 

Eastern Region

Some rainfall and highly variable temperatures with some single digit nighttime lows. Soil moisture rated as 100% adequate in northern and central regions and 50% adequate, 25% short and 25% very short in southern areas. Severe weather hail occurred Saturday northwest and northeast of Beausejour.    

 

Winter wheat harvest is nearing completion, no yield estimates reported.

 

70% of spring wheat desiccated or swathed; 40% oats desiccated or swathed. 

 

Most canola fields are ripe or getting close with desiccation or swathing just starting. 

 

Soybeans are mid to late R5 and showing wilting due moisture stress. Rainfall temporally alleviated symptoms.

 

Sunflowers were mostly in R6.  Corn is in R1 blister growth stages. 

 

Hay and pasture conditions rates at 40% good, 20% fair, 20% poor and 20% very poor. Beef producers are 90% done first cut grass hay with good quality, but 40 to 60% normal yields. Second cut hay is 70% baled or silage with good quality, but lower than normal yields. Most producers are looking for more feed.

 

Pastures are drying up fast but the rain from this past weekend will help some pastures re-grow.

 

Dugouts are about one third full. 

 

 

Temperatures were much cooler for most of the region, with overnight lows down to single digits. Rainfall amounts continue to be variable, with thunderstorms over the weekend dropping significant precipitation and hail in some areas.  A strip between Gunton and Teulon received more damaging hail, with early reports of damage in wheat and canola ranging from 15-35%.

 

Most crops are shorter than normal, a result of extended dry periods; lighter textured soils are most impacted. Many parts of the Interlake are looking for more rain.  

 

Forage grass seed harvest is mostly complete.  Yields have been average to below average. Early reports: perennial ryegrass 500-700 lbs uncleaned; timothy 90-200 lbs; trefoil 300 lbs.    Some fields baled when seed set did not warrant combining.

 

Earliest fall rye harvesting has begun, reporting 70 to 90 bu/ac yields in hybrid fall rye.  Spring cereals desiccation continues with harvest expected to be more widespread this week.  Some spring wheat and barley is swathed; more acres may swathed than anticipated, due to staginess. Early barley yields reported 60 to 80 bu/ac; 75 to 100 bu/ac in oats, with light bushel weights.    Some oats and barley fields taken for silage due to feed shortages.

 

Canola podding and filling continues, with a few early fields swathed and many left for straight cutting.  

 

Field pea harvesting has started, reporting 30 to 60 bu/ac. Boll colour change is evident in the earliest seeded flax fields. 

  

Soybeans look good, but pod fill is a concern in fields not getting the rains.  Corn cobs have formed, and fill looks promising. 

 

Insect pest concerns are low.  A few headlands have been sprayed for grasshoppers.

 

Pastures have perked up and are growing again, although may not be keeping up to grazing pressure in sandy or gravelly areas.  Some second cut hay taken where there is enough regrowth to warrant.  Some barley and oats are being cut for greenfeed or silage; yields are about 50% of normal. Silage corn crops look to be slightly below to average yields.

 

Water is being pumped and hauled for livestock consumption; water quality in dugouts is poor.