West-Central harvest makes progress in spite of rain

UNITY — A few producers experienced rain delays in harvest this past week, but respectable progress has been made. Harvest is now 90 per cent complete in the west-central region and remains above the 86 per cent five-year average and 80 per cent 10-year average.

Relatively dry conditions in the west-central region allowed producers to make lots of harvest progress last week. All winter wheat, fall rye, triticale, lentil and field pea crops are off, while soybean and mustard crops are close behind at 98 per cent harvested. Most spring cereal crops have been harvested as 97 per cent of durum, 96 per cent of spring wheat, 95 per cent of barley, 94 per cent of oat and 92 per cent of canary seed crops are off. Harvest of canola is 87 per cent complete, while flax lags behind at 58 per cent completion. There is still quite a bit of standing chickpea acres as only 63 per cent of these crops have been combined.

Some areas in the west-central received rain, but overall, it was a dry week in this region. The Marsden area got the most moisture with 17 mm of precipitation, followed by the Sonningdale and Macklin areas, which both received 13 mm. Topsoil moisture in this region remained relatively unchanged, as cropland topsoil moisture is rated as 65 per cent adequate, 33 per cent short, and two per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture is one per cent surplus, 58 per cent adequate, 39 per cent short and a mere three per cent very short. Finally, pasture moisture is higher than provincial average as one per cent has surplus moisture, 56 per cent is adequate, 41 per cent is short and two per cent is very short.

Crop yields in the west-central vary but are similar to the provincial average for many crops. Hard red spring wheat yields are estimated to be 41 bushels per acre, barley yields are estimated to be 60 bushels per acre, and durum yields are estimated to be 36 bushels per acre. Estimated canola yield is 33 bushels per acre, which is right on par with the provincial average. For pulse crops, estimated field pea yield is 37 bushels per acre and estimated lentil yield is 1104 pounds per acre.

Hard red spring wheat quality varies in this region as well. Sixty-three per cent of hard red spring wheat is graded as 1CW, 20 per cent 2CW, 14 per cent 3CW, and two per cent CW feed.

Strong winds were reported to blow swaths around, which was the main source of crop damage. There was also some minor wildlife and waterfowl damage reported on crops still in the field. Producers are hopeful that another week of good weather will allow them to finish harvest. Livestock producers are currently busy baling straw and moving bales.