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Crops

Six factors to consider if your soil moisture level is low

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To date, all indications are pointing to a dry spring, given the below-average precipitation received in many areas of the Prairies this winter. There are exceptions to every rule of course, but a lot of farmers had relatively dry soils going into winter, so we asked some agronomists and provincial crop experts what factors could […] Read more
Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and your crop
Crops, Wheat & Chaff

Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and your crop

Q & A with CPS

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Q: While we have little control over available moisture for crop production, how can it impact the final result? What is meant by the term “Water Use Efficiency (WUE)?” A: When we consider inputs that are essential for crop growth we tend to think of fertility. However, there is one ingredient that every single cropping […] Read more
canola flowers
Columns, Crops

Cooler July, thanks to farmers and canola

Swift Current temperature data shows different long-term trends in January versus July

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This piece is a result of the Canola Discovery Forum at Canola Days in Saskatoon in December, 2017. Jay Whetter, former editor of Grainews and now communications manager with the Canola Council of Canada, invited me to address the issue of precision agriculture with specific reference to the role soil maps might play. My contribution […] Read more
Stubble soil moisture map, November 1, 2017
Columns, Crops

Stubble soil moisture map, November 1, 2017

Les Henry’s annual map of fall soil moisture going into the winter months

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The November 1, 2016, fall soil moisture map was, in a word, wet. In Manitoba and much of Saskatchewan all soils were at field capacity (holding maximum available water) and many areas were so wet that water tables were near enough to surface to be a factor. When the water table is within about five […] Read more
I measured the water at this location SE 27 Tp 32 R3 W3 on October 2, 2001. This photo was taken on July 26, 2017.
Columns, Livestock

Water, salt and cows in pastures

Let’s use disaster as a chance to learn more about measuring the salt content in water

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The recent loss of 200 head of stock due to bad water brings the subject of water and cows into sharp focus. The loss occurred at a pasture near Shamrock, Sask., about 75 km southwest of Moose Jaw. Let me first offer condolences to the producers who lost cattle. In my experience cows are more […] Read more
These old wooden elevators at Laura, Sask., had developed some peculiar angles by the late 1980s when I took this photo. The Tessier aquifer is underneath and flows from a relatively shallow depth. In 1946 the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator in Laura drilled a 28-foot test hole that flowed, but no well is recorded.
Columns, Crops

How water comes out of the ground

Water comes to the surface in many different ways

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In my last column I looked at water entering the ground and the factors that control that flow. This time, I’ll look at water coming out of the ground and the clues it leaves about its origin. Contact springs A contact spring occurs when the contact zone between a very sandy soil and a finer […] Read more
Figure 1. A slough on nearly level clay soil on the University of Saskatchewan farm. This photo was taken on April 28, 2017.
Columns, Crops

Natural controls on internal drainage of sloughs

Whether or not your slough will drain quickly is a more complicated question than it appears

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Many farms in Western Canada are plenty wet, and the 1.25 inches of rain we got on May 7 set seeding back a few days. When a rain like that comes we hope for a hot, dry wind to “dry it up.” But, evaporation is a small party of the overall equation. Sloughs do not […] Read more
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General

Tips to help you protect your household water

The water that enters your home has a long journey from start to finish, and along the way, it can pick up a lot of contaminants. Once it reaches your municipal water treatment facility it is treated and distributed to the public. During this process chemical and physical processes are used to filter and disinfect […] Read more
Les Henry’s prairie stubble soil moisture map
Columns, Crops, Weather

Les Henry’s prairie stubble soil moisture map

In the map of November 2016 soil moisture, there are no “very dry” areas

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As usual, this map gives only a very general indication of the soil moisture situation on the Canadian Prairies as we went into freeze up November 2016. It can be summed up in a word WET. To make a soil moisture map it is essential that a good database of rain records from many stations […] Read more
A number of heating systems can be used to keep water open 
and available to cattle during winter.
Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Options for keeping winter water open

Water supp??lies need to be reliable but also safe

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Providing adequate stock water can be a frustrating challenge during colder months. Having adequate water and keeping it ice-free is not a simple task. In some pastures, water availability is also an issue. Trey Patterson, CEO of Padlock Ranches in Wyoming, says one of the challenges is keeping water thawed. “If you have multiple groups […] Read more

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