Emergence of Crop 2001

FTLComm - Tisdale - May 21, 2001

The rain yesterday will make the difference between a chance for success and failure this year. The crop was in the ground and the soil was dry, yesterdays modest rain will get things started. Reports from the South West part of Saskatchewan are serious. South of Val Marie in the Orkney area farmers have had their crops in the ground now for over a month and they have not germinated. Particularly the pulse crops are not getting started and farmers there are very worried. But the real problem is far more immediate. The South West of Saskatchewan is cattle country and farmers have some chronic problems with pasture. One Orkney farmer has been searching for pasture land for a small portion of his herd and will move about thirty head up to the Kelliher area for the summer, this week. But pasture in the Tisdale area seems to be acceptable right now and with the rain it will get much better very quickly. Farmer from the South West are looking at this area as well for places to board their herds as the community pastures in their area are asking farmers to come and get their cattle as they are out of feed. The picture above right shows that this year's alfalfa crop is getting started, the low temperatures have been a problem and fortunately we did not go below freezing last night otherwise the alfalfa would be badly damaged. Normally Tisdale Dehydration likes to get going the first of June and it looks like they should be able to get into the fields and begin the year's cycle of harvests on time, although the first cut yields are anticipated to be relatively low. Wheat and barley are coming up nicely in both stubble and fallow fields.