‘We need inches of rain to recover’: Alberta ranchers and farmers desperate for a downpour

Alberta's heat wave and lack of rain is killing crops and farmland across parts of the province. The stress on ranchers and farmers desperate for rain is taking its toll.

Ken Harris, a rancher near Black Diamond, Alta., works hard on his land to yield some measure of success, but knows he can’t rely on it for a living.

“Luckily for us, I have three businesses off the farm and my wife is full-time employed, but if I depended on this as an income you wouldn’t make it at all,” Harris said.

Harris and his wife run Cedar Creek Ranch and the lack of rain has been devastating.

“We need inches of rain,” he said Monday.

“I have to choose to take my cattle to auction early and sell them at a loss or a lower price — or pay for more feed and still lose money.”

The pasture is so parched, Harris said it would take a miracle from mother nature for some of their acres to recover.

“There is zero moisture, the grass is brown,” Harris said.

“This year we usually get a fairly good rain in June and then you get the first couple weeks of July with some good precipitation. But this year we had almost zero rain.”