Cooler, winter like temperatures have come about a month earlier for Albertans this year, resulting in farmers having little time to transition. Claude Lavoie is a dairy farmer in the Peace Region who is responsible for feeding cattle and animal housing. He says that the cooler weather hasn’t impacted him too much as he has already harvested for the year and all that he produced is good quality due to the right amount of sunlight and moisture it got in the warmer months.
Being on a dairy farm, Lavoie explains that “the cost for us is on the power consumption side So, making sure that the water bowls don’t freeze.” He says that cooler weather is more of a concern for farmers who work mostly outdoors. He explains that the advantage of colder weather on dairy farms “is cows consume more feed and in return they produce more milk during colder weather, which is a biological effect of lactation.”
Lavoie explains that while colder weather is not too detrimental to farmers who are more focused on cropping, he does say that the moisture that happens in cooler weather can take a toll on growing seasons. It can make it difficult for crops that were in the process of growing when the cooler weather started. He says ” you have some that are overripe and some that are under ripe. Overripe crops degrades, resulting in lower quality in crops and you lose your crop.”
The biggest problem for those responsible for haymaking is that colder weather can result in winter kill and it all depends on a farmer’s techniques in making their Alfalfa hay. Lavoie explains winter kill as “an effect that happens mostly to Alfalfa because of the type of root that it is. If it’s not able to generate its stores before the plant freezes to be able to start growth for the next season; it’ll actually kill of the plant.”
Lavoie has been lucky this year, he has already harvested and started the regrowth for and storage of his Alfalfa. He says while he’s not worried, it can be a concern for other farmers whose work schedules haven’t allowed them to get ahead of the curve. Saying, “if they harvested later and the plant did not have the time to generate it’s energy to regrow next year, it will actually kill off the plant.”
-LG
