‘Desperately dry:’ Anticipated snowfall promising for Sask. producers

For the first time in a long time, there’s snow in the forecast for most of the province.

For farmers and ranchers, the snow that’s expected to begin late this week is promising, as many depend on the moisture it brings to help get their crops going and fill dugouts once the spring hits.

Garner Deobald is the president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. He suggested the dry winter has impacted most producers throughout the province.

“The entire prairies is in varying degrees of drought,” he explained. “When you look at the Environment Canada precipitation accumulated since September, it is in some areas well below 50 per cent from where we normally are this time of year. There’s no subsoil (moisture) either, so in some areas we’re desperately dry.”

While the little bit of snow that is projected is welcome news, Deobald said producers will need a lot more to get things in good shape for the upcoming season.

“Just to recharge ground water and replenish or refresh dugouts and dams, we’ll need a considerable about of snow before spring melt. We’re talking probably feet of snow to amount to enough to get us through these dry conditions that we’re experiencing right now,” he said.

Deobald said the province has faced dry winters before, but some areas were already dealing with drought last season.

“We have had some years where Christmas has been brown, but for some regions this has just been such an extended drought where they’re running into year six or seven of below-average rainfall. It is problematic,” he stated.

“When you’re in the middle of it and have dealt with this for multiple years now, it becomes very difficult to manage and get through this.”

He said there’s not much farmers and ranchers can do right now other than hope Mother Nature will treat them better in 2024.

“It is a concern, and I think every day that goes by where there isn’t any moisture, the stress level rises for sure,” Deobald said. “People will manage accordingly, but it puts pressure on everybody in the ag world and it’s something we all think about it every day, morning and night.

“Nobody checks the weather more than farmers and ranchers do, and when it’s dry like this, we’ll hope and pray for more soon.”