Flooding is causing all sorts of issues for farmers around Alberta.
A rancher northeast of Calgary made a plea for help to Ballco Feeders from Vulcan County Sunday. His cattle were forced to swim when fast moving flood water rushed in to his fields. Ballco helped the rancher by taking about 145 cows to its comparatively dry fields.
The overland flooding alert for Vulcan County issued on April 16 was lifted Wednesday morning.
Farming around most of Alberta has been a challenge this year, officials say. Last summer producers were plagued by drought which meant many had a less than adequate supply of feed ahead of the long, cold winter.
“The weather conditions have been so trying on ranchers trying to calve,” Jeff Ball with Ballco Feeders said. “Being short of dry ground and the absolute cold and wet weather conditions we’ve had have placed a lot stress on those ranchers and anyone with livestock. It’s been especially tough.”
To make matters worse, some roads have been washed out, bridges are impassable or road bans are in place around Vulcan County, making transportation of agricultural products and supplies difficult.
“We’re probably going to be two-and-half to three weeks behind in our planting season this spring already, so we need some very good weather conditions to get the seeding and the crop back on track.”
Comments