Sask. farmer hopes for slow melt after last year's drought

Harold Martens felt the pain of last year’s drought.

“We got about I think 11 bushels to the acre, and on the barley usually we bale the silage and we got 2,000 bales instead of the usual 3,000,” said Martens, who grows barley at his farm northeast of Swift Current.

Martens uses the barley as feed for his more than 900 cattle. Due to the shortage caused by the drought he was forced to sell eight per cent of the herd.

Heading into spring Martens will be paying close attention to the weather.

“We’re looking at either a slow melt so that some of the snow, water soaks in and or immediately following up the melt there has to be rain,” he said.

As Martens starts to get ready for his farming season, he says he received an insignificant amount of moisture after last year’s harvest.

Environment and Climate Change Canada is forecasting a cooler spring, with two-week, four-week and three-month forecasts all expecting below-normal temperatures.

“When it comes to precipitation, though there's no real set pattern. It's not showing anything really stronger than average,” meteorologist Terri Lang said.

The cool weather forecast in Saskatchewan is caused by the cold phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, known as La Nina.

“There is some indication that the southwest may continue drier than average, which would be unfortunate because they were dry this winter as well,” she said.

The Saskatchewan Association for Rural Municipalities (SARM) has been keeping a close eye on reports from the Water Security Agency.

“A big part of the province is still looking like we won't have normal runoff,” SARM President Ray Orb said.

“I think that’s depending on how well the melt goes.”

Orb says there are some befits to a cooler spring, which causes less road damage due to less rutting on gravel roads.

However, he understands that both livestock and grain farmers would rather see a warmer spring.

“For the livestock producers, you know, that need warm sunshine and hopefully some rain. They need to get the grass growing in their pastures because they were really dry last fall and that's kind of the same for the grain farmers,” said Orb.