By Greg Nikkel
Warm sunny weather has helped producers in the southeast get out into the fields for harvest operations, with scattered showers causing momentary delays, along with about an inch of rain on Wednesday that hit parts of the region.
According to Sask. Agriculture鈥檚 crop report for Aug. 2-8, 82 per cent of the winter wheat, 53 per cent of fall rye, 16 per cent of peas and two per cent of lentils are in the bin, with about six per cent of canola swathed.
Dale Paslawski, who farms north of Weyburn near Cedoux, began combining his durum crop on Sunday, and will next move on to mustard crops once he鈥檚 done.
The yield for his durum is looking good so far, and he thinks it will grade at No. 2, just under No. 1 quality, from the samples he鈥檚 seen so far.
鈥淲e sure don鈥檛 want any rain right now,鈥� said Paslawski, noting his farm missed the thundershowers that came through the Weyburn area on Sunday evening. His durum will go to make pasta, he noted, so any rain that might fall on it now could cause the grain to lose colour and weight, which would translate to fewer bushels per acre.
They did get about an inch of rain on Wednesday, but he noted his crops weren鈥檛 quite ready for combining yet, and so weren鈥檛 damaged by the rain.
In his area, there is a lot of lentils and peas coming off the fields, said Paslawski, and a lot of canola has been swathed with some producers scrambling to get it cut before the heat can get to it. For lentils, he鈥檚 been hearing yields ranging anywhere from 5 to 15 bushels per acre.
Some of the winter wheat crops from the area are looking good, he added, with yields ranging from 50 to 80 bushels, causing some big smiles in the area.
His mustard crop is looking good, he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 quite pleased with it. It grew quite wild. With the mustard, we can swath it or straight-cut.鈥�
If the weather gets hot, with the forecast for temperatures around 32 for today (Aug. 17), he is predicting there will a lot of combines in the area getting crops off.
Producer Shane Watson in the Yellow Grass area is just getting underway with his harvest, starting with lentils right now, which are looking really good for quality.
鈥淲ithin a few weeks, everything will be ready to go,鈥� he added, noting his land has sufficient moisture without any water laying in low-lying areas.
鈥淓verything is looking really good right now,鈥� said Watson, with insects and diseases not causing any problems in his crops.
A crew of combines were working the Mainils farmland north of Weyburn, taking off lentils initially. They began swathing the lentils on July 27, and combine operations began on Aug. 3. Deana Mainil estimates they are about 25 per cent finished their harvest, and are very happy with the quality of the harvest so far. She pointed out the lentils they are growing in the Fillmore area aren鈥檛 as healthy, with some root rot and disease affecting those crops due to excess moisture.
The southeast area is leading the province in harvest progress, as in the southwest only 11 per cent of winter wheat and four per cent of peas have been combined so far. About 85 per cent of the hay crop has been baled with nine per cent cut, and hay quality is rated as 85 per cent good and 15 per cent fair.
Precipitation in the area ranged from nothing in the RM of Tecumseh to 17 mm in Weyburn, 17.5 mm in the RM of Wellington, 8 mm in the Ceylon area, 5 mm in the RM of Laurier and two reporters in the RM of Francis reporting a range from 6.5 to 25.4 mm of rain.
Cropland topsoil moisture in the southeast is rated as 19 per cent surplus, 71 per cent adequate and 10 per cent short. Hay land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as nine per cent surplus, 72 per cent adequate and 19 per cent short.
