HUMBOLDT — The Northeast had a very wet spring which made seeding a challenge for many producers. Many crops were seeded later than producers would have liked and some fields with heavy soil weren’t able to be seeded.
After emergence, lots of crops suffered flooding damage which hurt early yield potential. The wet spring helped crops make it through a hot and relatively dry summer. Some areas received rain during critical crop development stages which improved yields. Producers in the northeast were some of the last to finish harvest in the province due to late seeding and combining delays from rain.
Nearly all crop types in the northeast yielded higher than their respective provincial averages. The northeast achieved the highest yields in the province for many spring cereal and oilseed crops. These crops include spring wheat varieties, barley, oats, canola and flax. Fall rye is the only crop to yield lower than the provincial average as these crops suffered from excessive spring moisture. Poor yields contributed to a 14 per cent reduction in fall rye acres seeded this year, which is the largest decline in Saskatchewan.
Overall, crop quality was good in the northeast. Nearly all hard red spring wheat and barley graded in the top two categories. Most durum and oat crops were graded in the 1 CW and 2 CW categories, but these crops also had noticeable tonnage grade as 3 CW. Oilseed crop quality was also high, as most flax and canola crops graded in the top category. Finally, most field pea and lentil crops were 1 CAN and 2 CAN grade.
Yields for silage and hay crops were below provincial averages which left livestock producers underwhelmed with feed production this year. Silage yielded 5 tons per acre while hay yields were 2.03 tons per acre for greenfeed, 1.77 tons per acre for alfalfa, 1.57 tons per acre for brome, 1.36 tons per acre for tame hay and 1.12 tons per acre for baled forage. Luckily, producers got high quality hay this year. For the first cut, 43 per cent of hay was excellent, another 43 per cent was good and 14 per cent was fair. Producers that were able to get a second cut reported the quality was mostly fair, with some good and excellent quality hay as well. Hay prices in the northeast are some of the lowest in the province, with all hay types being cheaper than average prices in Saskatchewan.
The northeast received the most precipitation this year which contributed to this region having the highest soil moisture levels in the province. Cropland topsoil moisture is 78 per cent adequate, 19 per cent short and three per cent very short. Hayland topsoil moisture is 66 per cent adequate, 30 per cent short and four per cent very short. Pasture topsoil is 65 per cent adequate, 31 per cent short and four per cent very short.
Like the west-central, pasture conditions in the northeast are some of the best in the province. Heading into winter, one per cent of pastures are in excellent condition, 52 per cent are good, 42 per cent are fair and only five per cent are poor. More fall moisture and a lot of snow this winter would elevate pasture conditions next year.
Ever since harvest finished, producers have been busy tilling fields, spraying for weeds and applying anhydrous ammonia where moisture is adequate. Most cattle have been moved home for the winter and livestock producers are picking the last of the bales in their field.
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