News

Warm winter assists producers

By Scott Wagar

02/07/2012

In 2011, local agricultural producers in Bottineau County were practically up to their necks in water due to the heavy infiltration of water the farmers saw in the past two years. However, with a warm and dry winter this year it’s leaving field workers confident in a productive spring planting.

“The fact that we have had below normal precipitation these last five to six months our excessive surplus of saturated soils have soaked up and dried out,” said Tim Semler, county agent for Bottineau County. “The optimism at this point is good for seeding.”

Semler added that he has spoken with a good number of producers in the county who have stated that the ice in shallow potholes and ponds are sloping, or shrinking, causing a concave appearance, which is a good sign for farmers who have had to deal with a surfeit of water in their fields the last two summers.

“This appearance means that the water is soaking away from underneath the potholes and ponds,” Semler said. “That’s a good sign.”  

Although it appears that the majority of the water is disappearing, there are some fields in Bottineau County which are going to take a long time in seeing a withdrawal of water.

“Some of that really flooded stuff is going to need a couple of years to recover, but I think we are going to be okay this spring,” Selmer expressed.

With the warm and dry winter, the county has also seen black fields throughout the wintertime, which Semler stated is positive in a way, but could be negative in a way, too.

“Most years that (black fields) wouldn’t be good, but for us this year it has helped in healing the excess water situation,” he said. “One thing though, it could hurt us because of the lack of snow cover and the extremely cold temperatures we had in January. Those cold temps may have done some damage to the winter wheat crops and alfalfa. Normally, if we don’t get four to six inches of snow cover for insulating the roots of these plants, they can be harmed by temperatures once it drops below zero. At this time, that has been undetermined, but agronomist have taken samples of winter wheat indoors and warmed it up, and they have discovered so far that it has good viability. So, we don’t expect a lot of damage with winter wheat, hard wheat or hard red wheat yet this year.

“However, if you’re a producer that has planted a form of winter wheat that is not a North Dakota, Montana or Canadian variety, say the producer planted a South Dakota or Nebraska variety, those aren’t as winter hardy. So, those may have been harmed. But right now the North Dakota, Montana and Canadian winter wheat varieties we think are okay.”

Livestock producers are also seeing a productive season with their animals during this unusual warm winter.

“It has been a tremendously good year for people with livestock this winter,” Semler said. “We started out the fall and winter feeding period being kind of critical for hay supplies. And now, because it has been so warm and nice here we have used less than anticipated. So, most everybody is in really good shape in feed supplies to carry them through the rest of the winter.”

Semler also said cattle and lambs are also in good shape because they haven’t had to encounter cold temperatures, leaving the animals in healthy and good condition.

Besides a warm winter for livestock producers, the market has also seen some incredible prices for producers.

“Markets for cattle and sheep have seen recent highs,” Semler said. “We haven’t seen markets like this high in a long time. So, livestock producers are also optimistic.”
If the weather stays nice, seed and livestock producers will no doubt have a positive outcome in their field and livestock production, but, time will tell.

“It will all depend on the next few months, then spring planting will be determined,” Semler said.