Friday Crop Report on a Thursday. First week of July.

[sumdumguy]

Those clouds just can’t spill their guts. 1/4 inch shots are just a bit short of what we need. Here’s hoping things change soon. Its Craven Music Festival, historically its time for a big downpour as has happened several times in the past. Here’s hoping!

[Dr Tone]

Crops still haven’t recovered from the post seeding lack of rain. Everything is staged and running out of gas again.

[SASKFARMER]

Is it like irrigating when it seems like every other day you get 1/10?

2/10 to 3/10 over the whole farm last night. Melville got a good shot and some on the alphabet rail line got some.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

What I've seen of West Central alberta, I would say the crops look best ever at this time of year.
Very few drown outs and very few excess water stressed patches compared to normal. But unlike recent dry years, we have had just enough timely rains.

Biggest issue I've seen is very patchy, slow emergence and multiple stages from the hot dry windy weather during and after seeding. Not an issue we typically have to deal with. I've been driving by a canola crop that was only green in the compaction of the wheel tracks of the air cart. Just finally looking like there's something between the tracks now. I have barley that took a few weeks to germinate in patches.

Hay crops definitely suffered from the extended dry. Getting very mature for this time of year.

Water table is very low. Permanent sloughs are all dry. Yet our dugouts are quite normal levels.

[Old Cowzilla]

Crops loosing ground here too 20-30 mm forecast turns into 2mm every time. Son sold last years greenfeed bales after listing for a couple of hrs. Guy just 20 mins. north of us saw 1 inch rain on second week of May not a drop since. His hay crop a bust and greenfeed and corn option was not even germinating. A guy down the road I custom cut and bale said he turned his cows on to that ground his pasture is done and he is buying his feed. But the crops next to these fields will be Bumper For Sure !

[bucket]

The winter cereals and hay crops told the story for this year back in May around here. Hay bronzed off with heat in May and the winter crops were fully headed by May 25th.

[shtferbrains]

Light oats might be an option to replace the expensive hay?
There will be a lot of them if we don't get some rains to fill all these good looking oat crops that SF3 mentioned.

[furrowtickler]

Most everything north of hiway 16 in NW and north central Sask is going backwards other than a few small pockets .
many areas under 2 inches since May 1 , some still under an inch

[wrongway]

here in the garlic belt (east central sk) rains have been very patchy but generally 2 to 3 inches since may 1st. My farm at 1.8. Clouds seem to be drying up or splitting and going around. It almost feels personal. crops hanging in, I don't know for how long. My new worry is it won't rain till Aug 1st then start with the monsoons then the crops will start to regrow. I know, don't start looking for problems, they'll have no trouble finding you.

thanks to all the replies, its good to know that others are in the same boat. Listening to all the fungicide sales ladies saying we need to protect the yield gets a bit depressing.

good luck to all!