Farmers back to the harvest after a rainy weekend

A farmer from the Tourond area says last weekend’s rain put a pause on the harvest but they are now getting back onto the field. 

Ruth Loeppky from Rolling Prairie Farm says they were cruising along nicely early last week. 

But then, “The rain shut us down for a couple of days and we have a little bit of canola left. The soybean crops that we have are ready to go and hopefully we can start on that [Tuesday] and then we have the corn harvest and that we plan to do in a couple of weeks.” 

Looking back at the crops that have come off already, Loeppky says “The wheat was an average crop for us with good quality and protein and the canola yields were unbelievable. For the amount of rain we had, the yield is very pleasantly surprising.” 

Loeppky says they haven't tested their soybeans yet, but based on what she has heard from neighbouring farms that have begun the soybean harvest, yields are looking very encouraging.

As soon as the soybeans are off, Loeppky says they plan to go directly into the corn which makes up about 1/3 of the 3,500 acres they plant ever year. 

Meanwhile, Robert Budey from the Rosa area runs an operation that mostly focuses on beef. He says he is about to begin chopping corn silage. 

“Any day now, I'm kind of just getting some parts lined up here and we'll maybe chop on Wednesday, in the next day or so as soon as the weather cooperates a little bit better.”  

He adds “I normally like to wait for it to dry it out a little bit more. I won't take it off super wet, 65 percent [moisture] is what you kind of aim for and I think it's about that right now so yeah, it's go time.” 

Budey says some of the dairy farmers that he's talked to in the area have are already a way into chopping their silage corn. 

Unfortunately, there is more rain in the forecast starting as early as Wednesday evening that could get in the way of the harvest. Farmers will be trying to get as much done as possible before the rain comes.  

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