Twenty-one per cent of the 2012 crop is combined and 27 per cent is swathed or ready to straight combine, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture's Weekly Crop Report for the week of August 21 to 27.
The five-year (2007-2011) provincial average for this time of year is 17 per cent combined and 24 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine. Last year at this time, 21 per cent had been combined and 27 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine.
Harvest progress varies across the province. The southwest has 49 per cent combined and 20 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine; the southeast has 32 per cent combined and 27 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine. The east-central region has 10 per cent combined and 28 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine; the west-central region has eight per cent combined and 28 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine. In the northeast, five per cent of the crop is combined and 35 per cent is swathed or ready to straight combine, and in the northwest, four per cent is combined and 33 per cent swathed or ready to straight combine.
Pasture conditions across the province are rated as nine per cent excellent, 57 per cent good, 27 per cent fair, six per cent poor and one per cent very poor. Ninety-six per cent of livestock producers have indicated that they have adequate supplies of water for their livestock.
Across the province, topsoil moisture on cropland is rated as seven per cent surplus, 67 per cent adequate, 21 per cent short and five per cent very short. Hay land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as four per cent surplus, 61 per cent adequate, 26 per cent short and nine per cent very short.
Precipitation this week ranged from small amounts in southern parts of the province to 175 mm in the Meadow Lake area. Some areas of the province received strong winds, heavy rains and hail that have delayed harvest and damaged crops.
Farmers are busy desiccating, swathing, combining and hauling bales.
