Rains Impacting Crops, Good and Bad, in Southeast

The rainfall seen in southeast Saskatchewan as of late is rain many were hoping to have seen earlier in the 2019 growing season. With more than 100 mm of rain falling in the month of July, and nearly another 50 mm falling so far in August, some people have been wondering, is it too late for the moisture to be of any benefit for farmers?

 

“It can be too late, if we have a situation wherein a couple of weeks where let’s say in a couple of weeks where the majority of the crops are mature, it's not as beneficial as it can start to cause some quality issue, but being as dry as it was we should take what we can get,” explained Cory Jacob, a crops extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. “Even rainfall in October, if we’re done harvest by mid-October that’s really good for some soil moisture recharge, and we’ll have moisture there in the spring to get the crop up and growing, so it’s not a bad thing, it’s just with harvest it can cause some downgrading issues.”

 

The moisture levels have been greatly improved in much of the southeast thanks to the recent rains. With some areas receiving upwards of 301 mm of rain so far this growing season, the soil is starting to bounce back after a few drier years. For livestock producers, though, the lack of feed has been troublesome at times, as pastures haven’t grown as much as they would like, and the dry conditions have resulted in some hay producers looking at just one cut this year, as opposed to two.

 

For those who have the hay cut, with the rain we have seen for those who have cut, but not baled, you could see a quality drop, according to Jacobs, much as you would see for other crops.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.