He did have to make one trip late in the evening to Outlook, but they left the part out for him so he could pick it up after hours, and the next morning he got the machine fixed and going again.

We did shut the combines down to attend Gregory’s Auntie Pat’s funeral in Unity on Sept. 19. She had been battling with cancer. It has been a rough year in terms of deaths in the family.

On Oct. 7 we finished our grain harvest. The crops were great this year and the grain is sitting in the bins, dry. It was a very good harvest.

The next day we switched gears and took the horses out to sort some sale calves off from their mothers. We needed to be able to sort the sale calves off and then move the cows over to the other pasture. Earlier this year the bull had jumped in with the neighbours’ cows, so after sorting him off we decided to move the whole herd over to the other side so there were two fences in between them. Gregory had built the cross fence last fall and it was very helpful for this year’s management.

Joseph got to ride for this little roundup and he was very excited. After we got the cows in the corral and had sorted and loaded the calves, we switched riders and James got to ride to move the cows over to the other side of the cross fence. Afterward we took the calves home and fed and watered them for their overnight stay.

The next morning, we loaded the sale calves and the horses and then went over to the Landis pasture to sort off more calves so that we would have a full load to take to Provost. Joseph got to ride again for the roundup and then, while Gregory and I sorted, he rode Reba around in the pasture showing Grandma and Grandpa his skills. Once we were loaded, we got the kids in the truck and headed for Provost. We always try to make it a family event when we take the calves to the sale.

On the 11th we had a beautiful day for digging our potatoes. John and Barb were away at a wedding and so it was just Gregory and I and the kids and a neighbour who stopped in to give us a hand. Joseph and James were pretty good help and Ian and Anna played together pretty well.

The next day it snowed. It was the first snow of the year and the kids were very excited! They worked together and made several little snowmen in the yard. The snow didn’t stick around very long but they did have lots of fun with it while they could.

On Thanksgiving we had a nice little meal with James’ godfather, Ron Hango. We all ate too much and visited quite late.

On the 14th we headed over to the Scott Hutterite Colony to pick up our horses. I had taken over three colts earlier in the summer for Willy to work with. He had done a nice job and had ridden them several times to check and move their cows.

Two days later, Gregory rode the three-year-old mare that Willy had worked with to round up some cows at Landis, to sort off the last of the sale calves. Gregory has always enjoyed riding, but his old mare has developed a stiff gait that hurts his back, so riding has not been as enjoyable for him as it should have been. Gregory loved the little mare. She moved very nice and was very responsive to cues. She was completely at ease going off to chase cows away from my horse and nothing bothered her. We even had a jackrabbit jump up right in front of us and she never even startled at it. Old Reba can now become the kids’ horse full-time and we will be taking more colts to Willy next spring.

On the 20th we loaded up the family and went just down the road to pick up our new tractor, a John Deere 4430. Danny and Sheila have let us keep a few horses in their pasture over the summer for several years now. When I take water to the horses, we usually stop and visit for a few minutes. When Dan mentioned he might sell some of his tractors, I mentioned it to Gregory.

Gregory and James went one evening to visit Dan and to take him some beef as a small thank-you for the use of the pasture. Gregory and Dan talked about the tractors and Dan gave us the opportunity to buy the 4430. It was a very exciting day to go and pick it up. We will be able to use this tractor to do a number of jobs, but perhaps the most exciting one at this time is that Gregory will be able to use it on the processor. He won’t have to use the open tractor to feed the cows and horses all winter. We are very appreciative of this opportunity and it was a treat that Gregory was able to just drive it home.

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The storm is connected to the same freezing weather system that has enveloped much of the U.S. ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend, thwarting travel plans and leaving more than a million homes and businesses without power.

The storm was expected to affect about two-thirds of all Canadians as it moves across Canada’s two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, toward Atlantic Canada, said Environment Canada meteorologist Steve Flisfeder in Toronto.

“Every winter we expect storms (but) this one is significant,” he said. “We’re seeing differing weather types that are all leading to different impacts… affecting a very large population base in a short time span.”

Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity over the past 70 years, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. This is in part due to climate change, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, because the planet evaporates more water into the atmosphere as it warms, leading to more overall precipitation.

Canada’s second-largest carrier WestJet proactively cancelled all flights at airports in Toronto, Ottawa and the province of Quebec, citing bad weather. The largest carrier, Air Canada, also warned of delays and cancellations.

Nearly 320 flights or about a third of all scheduled arrivals and departures on Friday were cancelled at Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto’s Pearson, with another 200 delayed, according flight tracking website FlightAware.

Alberta, Canada’s main cattle-producing province, was under extreme cold warnings from Environment Canada.

Some farmers positioned portable wind breaks and used treed areas to protect their herds from potentially deadly winds, said Karin Schmid, beef production and extension lead at Alberta Beef Producers.

Cold temperatures can kill cattle but such deaths are rare, and Schmid said she was not aware of any this week.

In Ontario, stormy weather reduced transport of cattle to feedlots and slaughter plants, but the holiday season is slow anyway, said Jack Chaffe, who runs a 2,000-head feedlot.

The power utility in Ottawa said it had restored electricity for nearly 100,000 customers and was working to fix outages for 9,000 more. In Quebec, nearly 270,000 were without electricity on Friday afternoon.

Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said police had received reports of up to 100 vehicles involved in multiple collisions that have closed off a major highway near London, Ont.

“The wind and snow is blowing in and today is going to be a tough day for a lot of drivers,” Schmidt said in a video message posted on Twitter. “The best place is off the highway.”

In British Columbia, the storm brought several inches of snow overnight before transitioning to freezing rain and ice pellets, forcing the closure of key bridges and roads.

Conditions there are expected to continue changing as temperatures rise and bring heavy rainfall throughout Saturday and into Sunday, said Terri Lang, an Environment Canada meteorologist who tracks western Canadian weather.

“It’s going to be kind of a sludgy, sloppy Christmas, it looks like,” Lang said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg.

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As corn imports from the U.S. continue to make their way into Alberta feedlots, the cost to transport them has kept getting higher.

“Over the past couple of months, we’ve been dealing with increased freight charges,” said Erin Harakal, trade manager for Agfinity Inc. in Stony Plain, Alta. “I heard recently from truckers I’ve talked to that they’ve been seeing a 25 per cent fuel surcharge.”

The increase in freight rates has been between $1 and $2 per tonne since last year, she said, adding that picked-up prices for grains, transported by either truck or train, are expected to decrease slightly to offset rising fuel costs.

A lack of price movement in both Alberta feed barley and feed wheat has not sparked additional demand for either commodity. Corn has recently seen a small rise in prices, but not enough to convince feedlots to order more barley or wheat.

“For April/May, we were looking at $395-$410 per tonne ($10.03-$10.41 per bushel) delivered into Lethbridge,” said Harakal. “There hasn’t been that much of a demand for feed barley compared to previous years. A lot more feedlots are feeding corn.”

According to Prairie Ag Hotwire, the high-delivered bid for Alberta feed barley is $9.69/bu., compared to $9.41/bu. in Manitoba and $8.53/bu. in Saskatchewan. High-delivered bids for feed wheat are $12.66/bu. in Alberta, $12/bu. in Saskatchewan and $11.04/bu. in Manitoba.

But in order for there to be a bumper crop, and in turn lower prices, there also needs to be enough snow cover to replenish parched soil.

Despite greater-than-normal amounts of snowfall in parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Alberta’s snowfall has been insufficient.

“From what I’ve been hearing, south of Red Deer there hasn’t been as much snow this year,” said Harakal. “There are drier conditions down there. (Growers) are a little bit nervous they didn’t get the moisture that they needed when it comes to growing for the spring here. But it’s hard to tell until we get to spring.”

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

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“[But] not as cold as it has been for most of the winter,” he added.

Much of January and February have been highlighted by temperatures well below normal. On top of that, wind chills on numerous days made it feel like -30 C or colder.

Kehler said he expects March to be warmer than the last couple of months, but with daytime highs still slightly below normal.

As for the snowpack on the Prairies, he said it’s likely to remain in place for the next few weeks at the very least.

“It will depend on the weather pattern. If we suddenly warm up, that snow could begin to melt rather quickly. But if we stay in this colder pattern, we may not see this snow disappear until April,” he said.

Bruce Burnett, director of markets and weather for MarketsFarm, noted snowfall across the Prairies has varied quite a bit.

A large swath across the region has snowfall close to normal, but there is a large pocket taking up most of the southern half of Alberta that received much less than normal.

In contrast, Burnett pointed to numerous small pockets of above-normal snowfall — Winnipeg and the surrounding area being one of them. Other locales with more snow than usual can be found well north of Saskatoon and Edmonton.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Aside from the Rocky Mountains and some areas around the Great Lakes, the U.S. was largely still snow-free heading into that country’s Thanksgiving holiday.

Meanwhile, nearly all of Canada is already blanketed with snow and preparing for Christmas, aside from some areas in the Maritimes. Satellite imagery shows a line running right below the Canada/U.S. border, with snow to the north and bare fields to the south.

Manitoba has the lightest snowpack of the Prairie provinces, with only one to four centimetres across most agricultural areas, according to satellite data. The southeastern corner of Saskatchewan has similar conditions to Manitoba, while the rest of the province reported snow levels in 10 to 19 cm range.

For Alberta, the snow depth ranges anywhere from two to 22 cm across agricultural areas.

Eastern Canada was seeing a major snowfall Monday, with southern Ontario seeing as much as 20 cm of snow. The storm was tracking through Quebec and into Labrador, with the forecast calling for as much as 75 cm at Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

The post Most of Prairies already covered in snow appeared first on Grainews.

A La Nina generates colder-than-normal temperatures, as opposed to the warm temperatures garnered from an El Nino. Both weather phenomenon can be found over the Pacific Ocean.

For the Canadian Prairies, a La Nina will likely mean a drier bias on the whole, Lerner said.

“Usually in the early winter the cold is further to the west. In the late winter, it comes further to the east,” he said, noting this La Nina is expected to diminish come spring.

“If that’s the case, you would be more vulnerable to other weather patterns,” he said.

“If it’s a traditional La Nina, it will produce colder-biased temperatures in the western Prairies, with above-average snowfall along the front range of the mountains in Alberta and across parts of southern Saskatchewan.

For Manitoba, Lerner said a La Nina tends to have little impact.

“When we get into late winter/early spring, there’s some potent shots of cold that can come from that,” he said.

As for the U.S. Midwest, Lerner forecast below-normal precipitation for the western Corn Belt along with colder temperatures, particularly toward the end of winter.

“It’s important to know that the prevailing weather patterns for the winter, without La Nina, is for a tendency for troughs of low pressure over the eastern part of North America. There will be an open door for a cold shot to move across the central and eastern Prairies, down into the Midwest and northern Plains.”

However, Lerner exempted Ohio, Indiana and Michigan from the scenario, predicting these states should receive normal precipitation during the winter.

“The further west, the drier,” he said.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Heavy snowfall, rains and falling temperatures in much of the central U.S. stressed livestock, likely slowing weight gains in cattle. Beef packers lifted bids to buy cattle but trading in cash markets was slow.

“Live and feeder cattle traded higher from the harsh weather that pummels the Midwest,” CHS Hedging said in a market note.

Most-active CME February live cattle settled up 0.225 cent at 124.175 cents/lb., finishing below Thursday’s life-of-contract highs of 124.9 cents (all figures US$).

CME January feeder cattle climbed to the highest since Nov. 26 before finishing up 0.075 cent at 149.075 cents.

“Feedlots continue to hold out for higher prices amid live cattle futures strength and rough weather conditions,” brokerage Brock + Associates said in a client note.

Lean hog futures were narrowly mixed as traders consolidated positions with 2018 drawing to a close. Hog futures have stayed above Wednesday’s six-week lows but struggled to bounce significantly from those lows in light trading.

February lean hog futures settled up 0.075 cent at 60.65 cents/lb. and April hogs down 0.175 cent at 66.5 cents.

Hogs in the top cash market of Iowa and southern Minnesota were 39 cents higher to an average price of $44.93/cwt, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

— Michael Hirtzer reports on commodity markets for Reuters from Chicago.

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“We’ve heard moisture’s coming before and it doesn’t show up or it goes around us. So when it started snowing and it started adding up it was a pretty good feeling,” said Terry Anthony, a director with the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and mixed grain farmer south of Moose Jaw.

Last summer the southern Prairies were plagued by a dry growing season; crops managed to survive due to moisture in the soil from previous wet years. December through to February saw little snowfall, with some areas receiving none.

Conditions had continued to deteriorate across Western Canada. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Drought Monitor showed moderate drought conditions throughout the southern Prairies, with southern Saskatchewan in severe drought and the area surrounding Regina in extreme drought as of March 1.

There was just not enough snow to recharge soil moisture; “the deficits were there up until now. Basically we saw extremely dry conditions,” said Trevor Hadwen, agroclimate specialist with AAFC.

At Anthony’s farm he witnessed the dry conditions firsthand. He received a small snowfall at the start of the winter but winds blew it away — and in the pastures were he kept his cattle, dust started blowing.

“It doesn’t give you a lot of hope. It wasn’t the fields that were blowing but where the cattle were. They had the pasture tramped down, so it really wasn’t looking very good,” he said.

Following the snowstorm Sunday and Monday the situation has changed, with drought conditions not nearly as bad, according to Hadwen, though it is still abnormally dry across most of Western Canada.

About a foot of snow fell across most of the southern Prairies, with the moisture content in the snow equaling about an inch and a half of rain.

“It certainly won’t solve all the issues, though. We have significant deficits that we’re trying to make up from last year and last fall and one inch of moisture will provide a really good start,” Hadwen said.

The snow could have a larger impact, depending on how it melts. Last summer’s drought led to depleted and tainted water supplies for livestock across Western Canada. Testing done by the Saskatchewan government on water collected last year showed about half of water sources tested were unacceptable for livestock to drink.

Replenishing those water sources is very important and typically happens through spring runoff. Spring flooding forecasts for Manitoba and Saskatchewan released prior to the snowstorm showed a moderate to below normal risk.

The flooding forecast “has probably changed a little bit now. We’re hoping for a little bit of runoff to fill those dugouts and water supplies and then also at the same time we’re hoping for a slow melt to kind of recharge that soil moisture,” Hadwen said.

A quick melt with early season rains or another late season snowfall would also be beneficial for the soil, Hadwen said.

Anthony is happy to see his fields covered in white, but is still hoping for more.

“Lots of the time in the spring you can get a pretty heavy wet snowfall and there’s a lot of moisture in some of that when that happens. So hopefully there’s more on its way.”

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While a return higher is possible, canola will take most of its direction going forward from what happens in outside markets.

The May canola contract hit a three-month high of $531 per tonne on Monday after posting gains for 11 straight sessions. Profit-taking weighed heavily the following two sessions, with the contract settling Wednesday at $522.20 per tonne.

That $530-$531 per tonne level provided stiff resistance and brought in some selling pressure, according to Keith Ferley of RBC Dominion Securities. The recent strength in the futures also brought in more farmer hedges.

“Moisture conditions across Western Canada certainly improved a lot,” Ferley said of the recent snowfall across the Prairies, which should boost prospects for the 2018 crop.

While Canada’s moisture situation is a key factor in the longer term, Ferley expected most of the nearby direction in the futures would continue to come from the Chicago Board of Trade soy complex.

Argentina’s weather is still dry; “that’s been the focus, and will remain the focus until we see some rain,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply/demand report, due out Thursday, also has the potential to move values one way or the other, he said.

On the supportive side, “the Canadian dollar is trying to give us a little bit of support,” said Ferley. The currency lost roughly one cent relative to its U.S. counterpart over the course of the first week of March.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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That freak snow — only the third time in 40 years — made for some fantastic photographs before melting, but would be more welcome in Western Canada where many areas have now seen less moisture than an actual desert this winter.

As of Wednesday, snow cover maps of the three Prairie provinces showed a large section of central Saskatchewan with virtually no snow, while levels elsewhere are generally well below average for this time of year.

Aside from the Peace River region of northern Alberta/British Columbia, precipitation maps compiled by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada show levels well below normal in most crop growing areas.

As of Dec. 31, 2017, much of south-central Saskatchewan, around Regina, was in an “extreme” drought situation. Manitoba was “abnormally dry,” while conditions in Alberta and the rest of Saskatchewan ranged from having no drought indicators to “severe drought.”

Crop yields turned out better than expected in many parts of Western Canada in 2017, despite a lack of precipitation, as the crops made use of subsoil moisture. However, that moisture is now depleted, and will need to be replenished if there is to be a crop in 2018.

“Soil moisture at the time of freeze-up was poor throughout much of the southern Prairies,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Watch department said in an emailed statement.

Precipitation and warmer-than-normal temperatures in late November helped improve soil moisture in portions of southern Alberta and western Saskatchewan, according to the Drought Watch analysts.

Currently there is minimal snow coverage in the southern Prairies, with Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan showing the largest precipitation deficits this winter, according to Drought Watch. “Without snow cover, soils are exposed to increased moisture loss.”

“At this point, the amount of snow cover is not a tremendous concern for spring soil moisture as most of the soil moisture recharge does not come from winter snowpack, but rather late winter precipitation and early spring rains,” according to the Drought Watch analysts.

“The significant concern at this time with low snowpack is that water supplied will not recharge unless we get significant late winter snow.”

There is still plenty of time for more precipitation, with the Regina area seeing some freezing rain overnight (Jan. 9-10).

As a result, “producers should be watching their moisture levels closely as spring approaches,” said Drought Watch.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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