As I called around to chat with the SSCA Directors around the province, there were a lot of good news / bad news reports. This was best summed up by Mike Kirk from Climax who said, "Things are pretty good right here but a 10 speed bike and a bag lunch in any direction will put you in the middle of a crop wreck."
This got me thinking about our farm. The good news was that late summer rains in 2000 and good residue cover gave us good seeding conditions this spring. The bad news was that May was one of the hottest and windiest in recent memory. The good news was that the early seeded crops had good emergence. The bad news was that as seeding progressed, the seeding depth got deeper and deeper in the search for moisture. The good news was that the reduced tillage trend limited the wind erosion and there was a late May rain so I seeded a quarter of Mustard at the proper depth. The bad news was that it got hot and dry, the stools started to burn off by the end of June so I went off on my annual motorcycle trip. The good news was that we got an excellent rain the middle of July. The bad news was that the same storm also brought hail and half my farm was hailed 100%. The good news was that Lotto hail paid off: (adequate coverage and a reasonable adjustment).
This meant that the bills could be paid. The bad news was that a severe flush of wild oats came with the regrowth of wheat. (What to do - spray, bale or ignore it?) We go off on another motorcycle scoot for a week. The good news is that the barley has started to regrow from the roots. Will it beat the frost? Bad news - Diamond Back moths in the country. The neighbors decide to spray. I do nothing. The good news, it rains again and the moths wash off. The bad news, I'll have to swath for the first time in many years.
Do I buy a swather or hire the neighbours? Good news, I find a straight low acre S P swather. Bad news, when I get it home, I have to repair all the repairs done previously. I start to combine and the good news is that the green pea sample isn't bleached and looks good. The bad news is that the yield is about 60% of normal (to lots of people this would be good news.) The good news is that I didn't sell it off the combine. The bad news is that the undamaged canola is ready to shatter but the regrowth is immature. Do I try to salvage the early crop or wait for the second crop? I recall the sage advice of an old neighbor: "If you don't know what to do, nothing is a good option".
Good news, the crops are ready to swath in late September. The bad news is that they are so short that I have to shave the ground. If it rains they'll be glued to the dirt. The good news, I got it combined one hour before it rained. The bad news, I forgot to tarp the truck I left in the field. The longest harvest in my memory - August 8 to mid October. The bad news is that storage and trucking will pose no problem this year. The good news is that we had no yellow mustard contract and the prices are terrific. So there you have it - an abbreviated version of another 'typical' year. Are any two alike?