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The sight of snow in parts of Saskatchewan this week was good news for farmers who’ve been dealing with extremely dry conditions for most of the year.
“It’s dry — really dry — and it’s concerning,” said Jake Leguee, who farms near Fillmore.
His farm got about half an inch or so of snow overnight Wednesday, which he said was really nice to see after one of the driest years he has experienced.
“We got some good rain at the end of August but really, I don’t think we got a drop of rain in September at all, which is highly unusual,” said Leguee.
That made for good harvesting conditions, as Leguee finished about a month ago in one of the earliest finishes the farm has ever had.
The work continues in preparation for winter, with Leguee cleaning up drainage ditches, spraying herbicides to help get control of next year’s weeds, washing equipment and more.
There are a few things he’s apprehensive about heading into the winter thanks to the lack of moisture. Dugouts are lower than he has seen them in decades and that’s going to be a problem for access to sprayer water.
“If we go into spring without a lot of snow, the amount of rainfall it’s going to take to build that soil moisture back up to a point where we can actually get through little bouts of dryness, which are normal, it’s going to require a lot of rain,” said Leguee.
Leguee said it wasn’t too long ago that conditions were constantly wet and farmers were praying for snow-free winters. But that has changed.
“I would love to see a pile of snow. It could snow three feet and I’d be happy about it,” said Leguee.
In its final crop report for 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture said topsoil moisture levels on cropland were rated as 12 per cent adequate, 43 per cent short and 45 per cent very short. Hay and pasture land topsoil moisture was rated as eight per cent adequate, 35 per cent short and 57 per cent very short.
Leguee added a lot can happen between now and next spring and it’s a little early to get too worried just yet.