Rapid seeding progress is being noticed in the fields around west-central Saskatchewan judging by the second local crop report of the year (May 6-12). The region is hovering around the 50 per cent completion mark after the May long weekend, keeping pace with the rest of the province as over half of the province's acreage is seeded as we enter the final ten days of May.
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Moisture over the weekend likely slowed down operations somewhat, but a break wasn't the worst thing for some producers, with the area already ahead of the eight-ball after a 32 per cent jump from last week. That progress moved West Central past the halfway point, and well above the five-year-regional average of 36 per cent.
Individual progress has all pulse crops around 3/4 seeded, field peas now over 70 per cent. Cereals are led by spring wheat at over 50 per cent, each of durum, barley, and canary seed in the 30 per cent range, and the least seeded cereal crop is oats down at 2 per cent. Oilseeds are coming along nicely at 37 per cent for canola, 24 per cent for flax, and mustard coming in at 21. Rounding out the list are perennial forage at around 10 per cent seeded, and soybeans were at 1 per cent to mark the crop furthest behind in seeding.
Rainfall has been a mixed bag with most areas receiving trace amounts. Notable rainfall before the weekend was noted for Marengo (14 mm), Macklin (10 mm), and Marsden (8 mm). Those numbers helped towards middling moisture levels of one per cent surplus, 59 per cent adequate, 34 per cent short and six per cent very short for cropland topsoil moisture, one per cent surplus, 48 per cent adequate, 41 per cent short and 10 per cent very short for hay land topsoil moisture, and finally one per cent surplus, 47 per cent adequate, 43 per cent short and nine per cent very short for pasture land.
Waiting for more rain volume, thankfully 87 per cent of local producers are not concerned with the quality of their water for livestock. Levels are ok right now with about 56 per cent not planning for any shortages for livestock, 35 per cent looking ahead a month or two and watching conditions, though nine per cent of the polling crowd did share concern for moderate outages.
Jobs this week alongside seeding include spraying for weeds, land rolling and rock picking. Ranchers are wrapping up calving, working on fences and other farm infrastructure, as well as getting out in the field moving cattle to pasture.