2006 another challenging year for district farmers

The new year is almost here once again. For producers, 2006 was another challenging year.
The problem is the challenges keep changing. For instance, 2004 was one of the coolest years on record while 2005 was one of the wettest years on record.
2006 started out looking pretty promising in the spring. Then we started to become a little on the dry side—but nobody wanted to complain in case it turned out to be another year like 2005.
As time went on, we started begging for rain, but all for naught. We ended up having one of the driest years on record. Many of you saw the pictures from the Emo research station which showed cracks large enough to lose small pets in.
I had a couple of farmers mention they were very careful doing any machinery repairs in the field. If you didn’t pay attention when you put your tools down, they were gone.
One of the dilemmas was how to handle the hay fields; cut it and hope for rains and a good second crop, or leave it a little longer, lose some quality, but maybe get some volume.
In the end, I don’t think it mattered too much. The odd area of the district had near-normal yields but most found their hay yields way down and the pastures running out.
In some cases, rotational grazing had to be stopped because there was no re-growth in the early-grazed paddocks.
Most producers I talked to thought they would be okay because they had a fairly large carryover of hay from 2005. Still, there were quite a few who talked about shipping animals earlier than usual and/or culling a little more heavily in order to try and make it through the winter with the hay they had.
The other problem that developed was the drying up of many creeks and dugouts—the watering sources for cattle. I’m sure there’s a few of you out there who already are getting tired of hauling water.
Some consolation was that Agricorp rainfall data indeed indicated we were dry and there were some good payouts in the district.
The other consolation is that last week, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced a 2006 federal tax deferral for owners of breeding livestock in the Rainy River area who were forced to sell all or part of their herd this year due to drought conditions.
(To defer income, the breeding herd must have been reduced by at least 15 percent).
October turned out to be beautiful—right up until the day the kids do their trick-or-treating. And November actually ended up being rather wet.
It seems like we received more moisture in November than we did the whole growing season.
Nothing materialized in 2006 regarding the U.S. accepting our beef that is over 30 months of age, but they again are making rumblings about doing so in the next year.
The Farmers Almanac and Environment Canada can’t agree on the kind of winter we are going to have. Environment Canada predicts a relatively warm, dry winter while the Almanac says colder than normal—possibly with lots of snow.
I am torn on which one I hope is right. I don’t mind a mild winter, but I definitely prefer snow to freezing rain (so far it looks like Environment Canada is winning).
Wishing you a holiday season and beyond filled with beautiful moments and cherished memories.