The recent snowfall in west central Saskatchewan will certainly be a setback for local producers, however, experts state “we are behind the eight-ball, but no need to panic just yet”.

The last two days of September brought with it over 10 millimeters (mm) of precipitation, bringing the month’s total to 47.4 mm, according to Environment Canada. Rosetown received 6.5 mm of precipitation over the same two-day period, totaling 34.8 mm throughout the month of September.

“The fields need to dry up for sure,” said Cory Jacobs, crop extension specialist, “They are going to be dealing with muddy conditions, crop rust potentially and the big one will be lodge crop – so crop that has fallen down, it’s lodged, it’s going to be a lot harder to pick up and combine now.”

The recent rain and snow mix will also require some producers to dry their grain in order to maintain proper moisture levels and prevent spoiling.

“If grain gets above a certain moisture percentage, it just simply wont keep, so producers will use grain dryers to bring back down those moisture levels, otherwise it could turn into poor-grade and or, just wont be sellable.”

However, grain drying usually requires propane and an influx of producers who need to dry their grain, this could cause a propane shortage says some suppliers.

“Right across Western Canada, our grower-customers are reporting harvest progress at nearly 20 per cent below the five-year average,” said Errin Willenborg, FCL’s Knowledge and Innovation Manager. “With significant precipitation over the weekend and in the forecast, we expect much of the 2019 crop to be taken off tough or damp, requiring drying or conditioning.”

Further, the recent press release stated last year saw record-high demands for propane to use in grain drying, which led to delays from all propane suppliers. Currently, propane sales are reported to be steadily increasing, but has not yet matched the demand seen last year.

Jacobs said however, that a great deal of progress can be made with harvest even within a couple weeks of cooperative weather.

“It’s not time to panic yet. Producers have been here before where they can get some good weather in October and get harvest done. The five-year average for right now is 75 per cent so we are definitely behind but some sunshine and wind will help and a lot of progress can be made in a few days of good, cooperative weather.”

On the other end of operations, Jacobs said the moisture has been good for livestock producers in comparison to the extremely dry conditions they were facing earlier in the year.

He said the recent moisture has helped improve pasture conditions and from what he has heard, the majority of livestock producers are sitting with an adequate amount of feed storage, despite some only getting one cut of hay this year.