Warmer weather a positive for Wheatland agriculture

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The warmer winter this year has worked to the advantage of cattle producers of Wheatland County to get started on stock early.
“The nicer weather is good from the standpoint of our cattle producers, lots of guys will be starting to calve in March, it’ll make things easier with that,” said Russel Muenchrath, Wheatland County’s Agriculture Fieldman. “As well livestock through the whole winter (required) less feed because it hasn’t been as cold and snowy as it has been in the past.
“It depends on the producers, some will even calve a little earlier than March, especially if they’re purebred livestock producers, but probably a majority of livestock producers through March sometimes.”
Despite the weather being of benefit to cattle producers, it will take some time to determine when the crops will start growing.
“The snow from a moisture standpoint like for spring crops, we’re still too early to say we’re going to have a dry year,” said Muenchrath.
The waiting period will depend on the moisture that the ground will absorb over the next couple of months.
“From now and up until seeding will start, and in the past, we can still have lots of moisture through March and into April,” said Muenchrath. “We know what our spring snowstorms are like, it’s too early to speculate.”
For farmers, the seeding will depend on the weather, as some will plant earlier than others.
“If the soil is dry enough and the temperature is high enough to see then farmers will make that decision at that point and for some it depends on how many acres they have to seed. Some start earlier than others because of that,” said Muenchrath.
He added that it’s too early in the year to predict an outcome for crops in Alberta.