Manitoba Crop Damage May Top $200 Million

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Manitoba Crop Damage May Top $200 Million (07/05/05 12:15)

OMAHA (DTN) -- Manitoba agriculture officials say the damage from recent rain and floods to the province's farmland is unprecedented, reports CBC. About a quarter of all crop land is under water. A further 16% hasn't been seeded and what has been seeded may not survive.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer says it's too soon to know the total cost to the agricultural sector.

"We're already committed to about $50 million in unseeded acres coverage under crop insurance and an unspecified amount of money for the degraded crops across Manitoba based on the excessive moisture of crops already in the ground," he said.

Early estimates suggest the total price tag for the damage could hit $200 million.

 

[Murgen]

Hope it gets better for you guys MR.

But it sounds like a great time to bring the truck out and see if we can get er stuck.

You still got the STX, right?

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Sure do Murgen, but you think that truck of yours can do it? I think it can its a FORD!!! Had the Bale shredder hooked behind that big tractor today!

Heres a picture:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Manitoba_Rancher/cattle022.jpg

 

[HAY MAKER]

Sure do Murgen, but you think that truck of yours can do it? I think it can its a FORD!!! Had the Bale shredder hooked behind that big tractor today!

Heres a picture:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Manitoba_Rancher/cattle022.jpg

All this crazy weather is gonna make it interesting this winter,nice tractor M-R...................good luck

 

[Kato]

Here's an example of what's going on in Manitoba

This is at McDonald Manitoba. The lake on your right is actually someone's crop.

This is at Winkler Manitoba. This is a canola field in bloom.

The scariest part of this is that these two fields are over a hundred miles apart, and there is more flooding to the north and south of them. It starts in North Dakota in the Red River Valley, extends north to Winnipeg, east to the Ontario border, and west to about 25 miles north west of Portage.

I've heard on the news that the Manitoba part of this flooding is about a million and a half acres. The land that is flooded is also some of the most productive in the province, being most of the Red River Valley. These guys are not used to crop failures. It's something they very rarely even think about.

And it's rained since I took these pictures last week .....

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Kato your right! We are in one of the hardest hit regions! And tonite the news only got worse. We had one field of canola that was about to bloom and was a good crop and it was wiped out with the storm that passed through tonite. We had hail the size of golf balls and it just cut the canola right off. And we got another 2 inches of rain in under 20 minutes. Everything is under a big lake. Some cows I can not get to any more unless I climb in a boat and paddle across to them. This is how bad it is. We are running out of options for the cows that surrounded by water and cant cross back.


I ve got a couple of pictures to share:


One I took tonite before the storm hit it was pitch black at supper time
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Manitoba_Rancher/stormflooding010.jpg

And one I took the other nite of the island the cows are on: The water surrounding them is over six feet deep
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Manitoba_Rancher/stormflooding004.jpg

This is what it looked like about 9:30pm after the storm it was totally pink outside:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Manitoba_Rancher/stormflooding016.jpg

 

[Kato]

Wow! Did you have hail insurance??? Hope so!

We've been lucky where we are in that the land is too rolling for a whole field to go under. It's still plenty wet though.

We had to put a water trough in the steers' pen last week because the mud was too deep to get to the water bowls. They have to walk through the low part of the pen to get around and up to the water, and they were in mud up to their bellies. That can't be good for average daily gain! :shock:

The worst of last night's storm went just south of us, but the light show was amazing. We got some rain, but not the big winds that some people got. I hear that Brandon got blasted good.

Maybe we'll get to start haying in August eh? :???:

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Yeah Kato,

I have heard some reports of people feedlot cattle actually loosing weight not gaining. We had to move some feeders to high ground but still they are on an island. One neighbor lost 16 cows and 1 bull with lightening last night. We havent been around to check them all but so far no casualties in that dept. Our land here is pretty flat with lots of low spots and the low spots are totally full. Theres a lot of people inthis area that are feeling mighty down these days.

 

[Shelly]

MR, where exactly are you again? We were in Manitoba on Monday and Tuesday, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember where you were at! We only got as far as Macgregor, but I would've liked to have gone further east and south, so I could actually understand how much water you folks are dealing with. The picture on the front page of the Winnipeg newspaper Tuesday morning blew my mind! THAT'S ALOT OF WATER!!!!

 

[Kato]

:shock: From MacGregor you only had to go about 10 miles east and then 4 miles north and you would have been at the spot I took that top picture.

Missed it by that much!! :wink: From MacGregor west the land starts to get hilly and higher.

 

[Shelly]

Dang!

Kato, where are you at? Do you have the same water problems?

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Shelly,

If you go a half hour NW of Brandon you would be at my door. It s not fun around here with all the mud. We just came in from trying to get to the cows that are on the island and my tractor is buried in a bog hole. It can stay there til tomorrow morning. It is buried!!!!!!

 

[Shelly]

Well, s***! I should've looked in the phonebook for you! We stayed in Brandon Monday night.