Dry weather pushes west-central harvest to 92 per cent

By Your Southwest Media Group

Dry weather continued throughout much of Saskatchewan recently, allowing western farmers to nearly finish harvest.

Farmers in both west-central and southwest Saskatchewan had combined 92 per cent of their fields as of Oct. 5, the provincial crop report said.

Many of them had begun baling straw, spraying weeds, servicing equipment, harrowing fields, selling livestock or bringing cattle home from pastures.

West-central farmers still had 13 per cent of their canola to combine, along with 27 per cent of the canary seed, 25 per cent of the flax, eight per cent of their durum and oats, six per cent of their spring wheat, three per cent of the barley and one per cent of their lentils, the Agriculture Department report said.

The only rain reported in the southwest and west-central areas during the week amounted to two millimetres in the rural municipalities of Webb and Lacadena, a chart showed.

“The southwest hard red spring wheat quality is some of the best in the province this year” but yields are “significantly lower than historical averages,” that region’s report said.

Strong winds blew swaths around and “crops still in the field were mildly impacted by freezing temperatures and waterfowl,” the west-central report said.

Topsoil moisture levels there were one per cent surplus, 86 per cent adequate and 13 per cent short in fields, and about one per cent surplus, 85 per cent adequate and 14 per cent short in hay and pasture land.

While yields vary throughout the province “due to regional rainfall levels and agronomic challenges,” they remained “similar or slightly better than reported last month” and near historical averages, the province-wide report said.

Saskatchewan farmers had combined 82 per cent of their fields, behind the five- and 10-year averages of 97 and 88 per cent, respectively. Those in the northwest had finished 80 per cent; southeast, 77 per cent; and northeast and east central, 74 per cent.