By Greg Nikkel
Harvest operations are underway in the Weyburn region, with winter wheat, fall rye, peas and lentils being combined.
In some parts of the southeast area, up to half of the winter wheat and fall rye has been put into the bin, with many producers starting on peas, and other crops are turning quickly.
Fillmore farmer Russ Leguee finished his winter wheat crop over the weekend and moved on to peas, and said overall his crops are looking very good, other than his lentil crop.
鈥淲e鈥檝e avoided the hail storms and flooding, so our crops are in good shape right now,鈥� said Leguee.
The harvest started a few days earlier than most years, he said, although noting the winter wheat was pretty close to when they usually start.
鈥淗umidity has been an issue. I think we鈥檙e going to see some fusarium in the durum, although the winter wheat is fine. The canola is doing pretty good too,鈥� said Leguee.
Insects for the most part have not been an issue in their crops, other than aphids in the lentils which were sprayed for. Leguee said they largely missed the rain in the last week, so their crops are in good shape for the harvest operations.
麻豆传媒AV of Weyburn, farmer Jeff Gaab said they had just finished their winter wheat harvest and had just started on peas on Friday, and he was happy with the yields that he鈥檚 been getting so far.
鈥淚鈥檓 quite happy with how everything is looking right now. We鈥檙e quite content with how everything is looking,鈥� said Gaab, adding they have also been swathing their lentils, and the canola is getting very close to being ready for swathing.
The harvesting has started a little earlier than in recent years, although Gaab noted they have harvested winter wheat in July before.
Asked if there are issues with humidity levels, he said mostly there is heavy dew in the mornings that burns off quickly, enabling them to get out into the fields.
鈥淎t this point, everything looks good. I just hope the weather cooperates with us and allows us to continue with harvesting operations,鈥� said Gaab. 鈥淚t looks like a promising crop this year.鈥�
According to Sask. Agriculture鈥檚 crop report, 72 per cent of the hay crop has been baled and 16 per cent is cut and ready for baling. Hay quality is rated as 75 per cent good and 25 per cent fair, with high humidity and rain showers causing quality loss in the swath. There are some reports of producers taking a second cut of hay.
Pastures have excellent growth from this year鈥檚 precipitation, and are rated as 10 per cent excellent, 75 per cent good, 12 per cent fair and three per cent poor. There are some areas where some acres in pastures are flooded and access is limited.
Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as 11 per cent surplus, 82 per cent adequate and seven per cent short. Hay land and pasture topsoil is rated as eight per cent surplus moisture, 84 per cent adequate, seven per cent short and one per cent very short.
It was a drier week for the southeast region for rainfall reported, with the RMs of Tecumseh, Brock, Weyburn and Brokenshell reporting no moisture, the RM of Wellington had 1.5 mm, part of the RM of Laurier had 5 mm and The Gap had 4 mm.
