Manitoba seeding advances, but crop development still lags

“I would say one thing that really is characterizing the Northwest region this year is that we really almost should have a sub report for all the different regions within the Northwest region because we’re all really quite different from each other,” Frey said. “With that in mind, take any percentages and generalities that I throw out here with a grain of salt because it really depends on where you are in our quite large region.”

In southwestern Manitoba, another hot, dry and windy week helped producers make excellent planting progress, with several completing their spring seeding operations.

Very little rain fell in the Southwest region last week, aside from a few scattered showers, providing ideal seeding conditions.

Temperatures stayed above normal, with daytime highs topping 30 C most of the week and nighttime temperatures remaining in the double digits.

Frey said winter cereals are in good shape and recent heat has helped crop emergence.

“Interestingly though, on some fields, given the late kind of reboot that they have in spring as they start growing again we actually see that some of the winter cereals fields don’t look all that far ahead of the emerging spring wheat, which is somewhere in that two to three leaf stage,” he said.

Hot, dry and windy conditions, along with some rain, have given pastures a much-needed boost.

“We’re starting to see livestock being put out onto summer pasture as things like vaccinations are starting to wrap up. We’re seeing fly and tick season begin, of course, so that’s something to look for in your herds,” he said. “When we look at some of the areas that are seeded to annual feed like corn and so on, we’re starting to see some of those begin to emerge here as well.”

More rain is forecast this week, but Frey does not expect it to slow spring seeding too much.

“We’ve had some very heavy rains, but they didn’t seem to last very long in that I have seen. So I anticipate that at this point people would still be able to get back out in the field and do some work. But it’s going to depend very much on the next day or two how much more rain we get and could slow things down for some folks, especially in areas where it has been chronically wet to begin with,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

by Pattison Media

Manitoba seeding advances, but crop development still lags

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