rockridgecattle
Well-known member
Haven't been around much.
the last 5 months have been brutal. Finally starting to see the light.
The winter went well for the most part. Then one day while driving school bus, i got this thought into my head. "i need a realy good snow day to remind me why i want to quit driving and go to farming full time"
Not 24 hours went by and the world change (my little world). Snow storm after snow storm, freezing rain driving winds. This after a wild summer of more rain than we needed and snow coming while even the high ridges were underwater. This saw hubby getting stuck in Febuary, still trying to haul hay and wood home (like every other farmer in our area). At least we did not come out in the morning to blown tires or frozen axels because of the freezing cold weather froze the snow and water to the tractors every night.
I digress...
any ways, the story continues...
Becasue of the 4th year of massive flooding, we saw cattle feed issues and also bee surivival. From summer to winter we lost 20% of producing colonies to the weather. That was nothing though. After all the snow, wind and rain, our surviving 181 colonies were reduced 18 colonies. We lost 90%. A May 1 storm saw a few more bite the dust, but bigger than that, I almost lost my husband to a brutal snow storm that dropped almost 2 feet of snow. Thankfully the Good Lord brought him home safe and kept the cows and calves safe. Some in our area took a huge hit since some of us were still calving and in full swing of it. We were on the tail end and fighting massive flooding.
We ended up purchasing alot of packages of bees and hived them. So the last few months have been exhausting...getting packages ready for the flow, fighting flooding and driving a route that has been detoured since Febuary due to snow, ice and now flooding. It is a mess in our area
100 000 cattle have been evacuated from our area. Some farmers had to barge the cattle across the lake to get them to dry land and then freight them out. If the cattle come back in the fall, there will be nothing for them. Their winter grounds are underwater, and the hayland is not available to make hay on to feed them. Hayland has been destroyed, pasture gone. The water is not expected to go down until next year after the snow melt sometime. Our crest on the lake is called for in August...freeze up starts in October. Massive carp are swimming in the hay fields. The lakes, the rivers, dams, are all overfull and backing up. We are the dump for the water from areas like Minot North Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan and our own proveince . The red river from the states comes here too, but to a different lake. So we are spared that. But the Souris river and the Assinaboine river have brought us to our knees. Roads are used as levies to try and stop the water. .
The amount of sandbags which have been made in Manitoba is staggering. Semi truck load after load. This flood has covered over 700 km north to south. Flooding will continue North and affect the reserves who are isolated and use ice roads to get in supplies. The flooding is now on the Nelson river which is north somewhere and i think it is close to the dump in the Hudson Bay. I think the isolated reserves will be the most effect this winter. East to west, I have no idea how far the the flood covers. Over 3 million acres have not been seeded. The government is calling for any farmer who can plant now past the crop insurance deadline to plant for green feed. We have been fighting flooding since April. Now i should clarify we. All of southern Manitoba have been fighting flooding since April. The souris area is facing it's third wave. Our farm saw the flooding in April, May and part of June...overland from the snow and rains. The lake right now is not on our doorstep. If these winds keep up though...that could be another matter. The winds challenge the most well built levies. There is a ridge which is stopping the water from flooding our land right now. It is not a high ridge though. Our pasture has taken a hit, grass just quits growing when under water for months and years on end. Alot of the alfalfa in the hay land is gone. Now it is mostly grass and weeds and drowned out patches. Leaf cutter operations have not put the huts of bees out yet...no blooms. Our hives, I am worried if the water breaches that ridge. But i am most worried about the spring. We are going to have to find sheltered high ground so that they survive the spring thaw because there is no where for the water to go. We are worried. The thaw happens right in the middle of calving season...this is not something that will go away soon.
I have to say, for us...hubby and I, loosing the bees, and having longer harder bus route made life tiring this spring and summer. I am exhausted. But it pales in comparrison to the devestaion left by the winds and high waters.
I am not sure how many of us cattle producers or grain farmers will be left after this. Some communities are so dependant on Agriculture that they will take a hit.
I have never seen a super sand bag before. Basically it is a mini bulk bag full of sand. Then the pictures of the choppers dropping mini bulk bags on the Wawanesa Dam to protect the town water supply were pretty amazing.
If you are a praying person, pray for us. Not just rockridge and her husband, but the people in our area our proveince. We are tired and desparate. We have no idea what to expect and what is coming...
...did i mention this is a man made flood for our area? They built a diversion to protect the city capital and prime ag land. This water that is coming and the water that has come was never ment to come to our lake. The diversion dumps in over 35000 almost 50000 cubic feet per second into our lake and they build the outflow to handle 10000. Right now it is handleing 15000, and could take out the bridge which is the second busiest highway in Mantoba and is the truck and traffic flow to the northern towns and city.
Pray for us please! Pray for the people in south western Saskatchewan too...They are in the same boat...no idea on how many acres have gone unseeded there
the last 5 months have been brutal. Finally starting to see the light.
The winter went well for the most part. Then one day while driving school bus, i got this thought into my head. "i need a realy good snow day to remind me why i want to quit driving and go to farming full time"
Not 24 hours went by and the world change (my little world). Snow storm after snow storm, freezing rain driving winds. This after a wild summer of more rain than we needed and snow coming while even the high ridges were underwater. This saw hubby getting stuck in Febuary, still trying to haul hay and wood home (like every other farmer in our area). At least we did not come out in the morning to blown tires or frozen axels because of the freezing cold weather froze the snow and water to the tractors every night.
I digress...
any ways, the story continues...
Becasue of the 4th year of massive flooding, we saw cattle feed issues and also bee surivival. From summer to winter we lost 20% of producing colonies to the weather. That was nothing though. After all the snow, wind and rain, our surviving 181 colonies were reduced 18 colonies. We lost 90%. A May 1 storm saw a few more bite the dust, but bigger than that, I almost lost my husband to a brutal snow storm that dropped almost 2 feet of snow. Thankfully the Good Lord brought him home safe and kept the cows and calves safe. Some in our area took a huge hit since some of us were still calving and in full swing of it. We were on the tail end and fighting massive flooding.
We ended up purchasing alot of packages of bees and hived them. So the last few months have been exhausting...getting packages ready for the flow, fighting flooding and driving a route that has been detoured since Febuary due to snow, ice and now flooding. It is a mess in our area
100 000 cattle have been evacuated from our area. Some farmers had to barge the cattle across the lake to get them to dry land and then freight them out. If the cattle come back in the fall, there will be nothing for them. Their winter grounds are underwater, and the hayland is not available to make hay on to feed them. Hayland has been destroyed, pasture gone. The water is not expected to go down until next year after the snow melt sometime. Our crest on the lake is called for in August...freeze up starts in October. Massive carp are swimming in the hay fields. The lakes, the rivers, dams, are all overfull and backing up. We are the dump for the water from areas like Minot North Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan and our own proveince . The red river from the states comes here too, but to a different lake. So we are spared that. But the Souris river and the Assinaboine river have brought us to our knees. Roads are used as levies to try and stop the water. .
The amount of sandbags which have been made in Manitoba is staggering. Semi truck load after load. This flood has covered over 700 km north to south. Flooding will continue North and affect the reserves who are isolated and use ice roads to get in supplies. The flooding is now on the Nelson river which is north somewhere and i think it is close to the dump in the Hudson Bay. I think the isolated reserves will be the most effect this winter. East to west, I have no idea how far the the flood covers. Over 3 million acres have not been seeded. The government is calling for any farmer who can plant now past the crop insurance deadline to plant for green feed. We have been fighting flooding since April. Now i should clarify we. All of southern Manitoba have been fighting flooding since April. The souris area is facing it's third wave. Our farm saw the flooding in April, May and part of June...overland from the snow and rains. The lake right now is not on our doorstep. If these winds keep up though...that could be another matter. The winds challenge the most well built levies. There is a ridge which is stopping the water from flooding our land right now. It is not a high ridge though. Our pasture has taken a hit, grass just quits growing when under water for months and years on end. Alot of the alfalfa in the hay land is gone. Now it is mostly grass and weeds and drowned out patches. Leaf cutter operations have not put the huts of bees out yet...no blooms. Our hives, I am worried if the water breaches that ridge. But i am most worried about the spring. We are going to have to find sheltered high ground so that they survive the spring thaw because there is no where for the water to go. We are worried. The thaw happens right in the middle of calving season...this is not something that will go away soon.
I have to say, for us...hubby and I, loosing the bees, and having longer harder bus route made life tiring this spring and summer. I am exhausted. But it pales in comparrison to the devestaion left by the winds and high waters.
I am not sure how many of us cattle producers or grain farmers will be left after this. Some communities are so dependant on Agriculture that they will take a hit.
I have never seen a super sand bag before. Basically it is a mini bulk bag full of sand. Then the pictures of the choppers dropping mini bulk bags on the Wawanesa Dam to protect the town water supply were pretty amazing.
If you are a praying person, pray for us. Not just rockridge and her husband, but the people in our area our proveince. We are tired and desparate. We have no idea what to expect and what is coming...
...did i mention this is a man made flood for our area? They built a diversion to protect the city capital and prime ag land. This water that is coming and the water that has come was never ment to come to our lake. The diversion dumps in over 35000 almost 50000 cubic feet per second into our lake and they build the outflow to handle 10000. Right now it is handleing 15000, and could take out the bridge which is the second busiest highway in Mantoba and is the truck and traffic flow to the northern towns and city.
Pray for us please! Pray for the people in south western Saskatchewan too...They are in the same boat...no idea on how many acres have gone unseeded there
