By Charlene Tebbutt

Farmers look to the skies for more rain

Jun 6, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Recent rains in the area have been a welcome sight, but for many farmers, it’s still not quite enough.

Wet weather over the last week reached some areas, but left others dry, and many say more rain is needed.

“Definitely not on our farm, we were kind of blessed to get a really good rain 10 days ago, but it only got on two-thirds,” said Terry Oleksyn, who farms in the Rural Municipality of Shellbrook.

“Other than that, it’s just a tenth here and there … it’s not desperation (but) on conditions where our grass is, it’s only about a five or less out of 10, so it’s not great.”

The province’s cumulative rainfall map shows less than 25 millimetres of rain fell in Prince Albert and south of the city between April 1 and May 28. Areas to the north, west and east of Prince Albert saw between 25 and 50 millimetres of rain in that same time frame, according to the map.   

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Kim McLean, provincial cattle specialist with the Government of Saskatchewan, said it’s safe to say that many farmers would like to see more rain for their crops and cattle. Reports from around the province late last week painted a dire picture, McLean said, although in Regina and most areas around southern Saskatchewan have received a good amount of moisture since then.

“Our hay fields, some of them were already heading out, that’s how dry they were … it’s been so patchy all around the province,” she told farmnewsNOW.

“The one thing that I haven’t heard with all this moisture is how the dugouts are filling up because that was one of our concerns, that there could be a shortage of water, and high-quality water around the province.”

The lengthy and cold spring forced farmers to feed cattle longer than usual, diminishing much of their stocks, said Stewart Stone, chief operating officer with Heartland Livestock Services. Many areas were also facing dry conditions last fall, he said.

Still Heartland Livestock isn’t seeing a huge influx of cattle moving on the market at the moment, Stone said.

“We’re hearing some people thinking about it, but we haven’t seen a lot of liquidation of cattle yet,” Stone told farmnewsNOW. “I think everybody’s just sitting and watching … cattle people that are in the business are a pretty resilient group.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt