The week started out cold and has warmed up. A couple of sunny days, the rest overcast. The weather was liveable when not windy. I like the sun and I don’t care for the wind but Big Guy doesn’t worry what I like, he just lets the weather happen. We have to live through it no matter what. The alternative is not good. It means you are dead.
I have marked a possible hoar frost rain for June 5 and 6. When Bev saw the hoar frost Dec. 6 she said, “Wow”. It was a good one. That will be perfect for getting the weeds growing good so we can kill them with the spray. Fingers crossed and here is to hoping. There is that saying ,“The best laid plans of mice and men, sometimes go awry and must be started over again.”
On the home front, I have all the machinery parked. Nothing has broken down in the machinery department that I know of. Of course that is not everything here. The shop heater quit! I think the vent froze off in that cold northeast wind we had. First time we ever had the vent freeze off. I have to get a long ladder and get to the peak in the house. So far I have resisted the urge to crawl up there and melt off the ice.
There was much consternation from Beverly about her dogs sleeping in an unheated shop. They have doggy beds and they have survived.
The two cats that go outside were not happy. There is a heated cat bed there and a doggy door to get in the shop. I guess this was not up to their standards. They entertained themselves by wrestling with each other, leaving clumps of hair on the floor and looking longingly out the window every five minutes. They sleep around the house here and there and you always have to be mindful not to step on them.
Come spring they are out all night, coming in in the morning where they head straight to the cat food dish, not hungry, just checking it out and making sure the dish is still there. Then it’s straight into the kitty litter box to do their business. Why can’t they leave it outside?
In other farm news there isn’t a cowboy anywhere who sold cattle this fall that doesn’t have a smile on his face. Most of them have hung on to that old cow’s tail through thick and thin. Now they are getting rewarded. The smile might fade a little bit when they price out a new baler or a new pickup truck in the $60,000 range.
In the commodity markets the prices seemed to have bottomed. Canola is flirting with $10. It has fallen back now to just over $9 and change. I shake my head at commodity traders as they put out the story that there is a surplus of soybeans in the world. Therefore, to their thinking, canola has to come down.
What a load of oompapa. They are even basing this prediction on the fact that the American farmer may switch and grow a lot of soybeans. The crop is not even in the ground yet and they have a big surplus penciled in. The only people who have soybeans to sell are the Americans and Brazil. They can predict production all they want but none are smart enough to predict usage. Soybean meal is big in American cattle rations. Canola will be a good option to grow next year.
In wheat, there seems to be a demand for grades one and two with high protein. There must be some West Coast sales. The price neared $7 then fell back. It would seem the futures market price is below the actual price at port for something the buyers want and are willing to pay for.
The Saskatchewan Wheat Growers, who were so adamant that the wheat board should go, have sent out a newsletter bemoaning the fact grain companies are pocketing $130 a tonne over what they have paid the farmers. That is like double! It sure didn’t take long for the grain companies to show their true colours.
For durum it is even worse. A friend of mine at Eastend said that an American outfit had bought an abandoned elevator down there and was trucking durum to the United States. He told me it was so bad you could not hire a commercial trucker in his area. The price of durum across the border was $14 to $15 dollars a bushel.
The futures price is just pie in the sky. What counts is if you physically have the real product. If you have land that grows wheat well, next year, plant some wheat. Plant HRS or durum. Don’t plant the ethanol wheats. You can’t get ahead by growing more bushels and selling it for less.
The commodity traders are promoting the big lie that there is a big surplus of wheat in the world. Where is it? What is it? It doesn’t count if it is some place that can’t be shipped out of or is of poorer quality. We can grow high quality wheat. That’s where there is a strong market. It pays to check around as not all elevators are at the same price. By the time you harvest the 2015 crop, Gerry Ritz will have the railroads moving all the wheat we grow. Plant some wheat.
What happened to the $100,000 per day fine to railways that didn’t perform? Do we have a double standard here in Canada, one law for the rest of us and another law for the “impotent” suits? What do ya think, anyways?
If your land is good barley ground, consider trying for malting barley. A good malting barley crop will net you more money per acre than a poor quality wheat crop. If you like growing barley, give it a shot. There is also a feed barley market but it is not so lucrative. It is just some place for sales and may help pay some of the bills. Check around as all elevators are not the same price. Barley is a good cropping option.
Oats are a nice crop to grow. The problem is they are a bulky crop and the market for the good prices are many miles away. Some people do not like the itch but for me it was less than the barley. Worth a consideration as an alternative.
I have left peas to the last because I determined years ago that life was too short to grow peas. Grow it if you must; I will not be joining you. If you like to go against the crowd, go ahead. There will be some good prices maybe but what if there is not? Depending on where you live, flax or lentils could be considered.
I was having dinner one day in Sunny’s restaurant in Maidstone. I started to visit with a man at the next table. He told me he was in charge of maintenance on the rail line from North Battleford to Vegreville, Alta. He told me the trains were going to double on the line beside my place. He said there would be no pipeline any time soon. I was astounded as there are two trains now that pass at Waseca about 10:30 p.m. at night and I now see one mid-afternoon. Sounds like the oil patch may slow down a little but is not going to stop.
Joke of the week by daughter in law Brenda: Two elderly women were out driving in a large car, neither one could hardly see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they went on through. The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself, “I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through a red light!” After a few more minutes they came to another intersection. The light was red, and again they went right on through. This time, the passenger was almost sure that the light had been red, but was also concerned that she might be seeing things. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention. At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went sailing right through it. She turned to the other woman and said, “Mildred! Did you know we just ran through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us!” Mildred turned to her and said, “Oh my gosh! Am I driving?”
