Just like crop fields around the southeast, hayfields and pastures are pretty spotty this year. While some areas received a decent amount of precipitation earlier in the season, other regions hardly had enough to stay alive.
“You get by Fillmore, you get in the south of Weyburn, over by Kendal and Sedley, where they really got no moisture, the hay fields are a lot thinner,” said Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture crop extension specialist Sherri Roberts.Â
July rains refreshed pastures, allowing the feed to grow, but that same precipitation kept pushing livestock producers back, keeping them away from haying. Many farmers have been trying to start cutting for the last weeks, but a lot of areas have been going just a day or two without showers, which was not allowing for any progress.
Last week, despite the weather conditions, numerous producers finally got out there.
“It’s going to be a hit or miss on whether they can get it up in excellent conditions without it getting rained on. But there are a lot of fields that need to be cut and should have been cut a couple of weeks ago,” said Roberts.
She added that the majority of the producers will hardly get the average tonnage this year due to the combination of conditions such as cool weather in the spring, a later start for the plants and a relatively dry June.Â
However, farmers that manage to do two cuts this summer, may get an amazing second cut since the moisture came just in time for plants to boom in July.
