Initial seeding operations have begun in the area extending from Radville up to Yellow Grass, with most of the Weyburn region just beginning or not started into seeding yet, according to Sask. Ag and Food.

The Weyburn area experienced very strong winds over the past week, particularly on Saturday with gusts of up to 80 km/h lasting most of the day, causing clouds of dust to obscure the sun by day's end.

According to extension agrologist Elaine Moats, in her last week of work at the Weyburn Rural Service Centre, the damage caused by the wind could have been much worse.

"The surface moisture is not too bad right now, but if we have very many days like Saturday we could lose a lot of moisture. We're very fortunate over the years a lot more people have been doing minimum tillage. It's a reminder that soil conservation is still a major issue to work with," said Moats.

The seeding progress in the Radville-Trossachs area is mainly due to the hardpan type of soil they have, where it's advantageous to producers to get on the land as early as they can, explained Moats.

In the Weyburn area, and extending north and northeast, seeding has yet to begin for the most part as the snow took longer to melt, and the soil temperature is still on the cool side in many parts.

"It's totally dependent on the weather, but I would think by next week there'll be field work in general throughout the entire area, provided the fields are dry enough to get on to," said the agrologist.

The dry soil conditions are reminiscent of a few years ago, she noted, when this area had a similar winter and spring where the snow just melted into the ground with little or no frost to hold the moisture in the higher levels. In that year, the more the fields were worked, the drier the soil became, and the fields dried out as the season progressed.

Pasture conditions are also dry, with grass growth just starting to appear, said Moats.

"We'll see some reasonable early growth, but after that it will depend on seasonal rains," she added. Around the southeast, 62 per cent of the crop reporters rate pastures as poor to very poor, a third rate conditions as fair and only five per cent rate pastures as good. Most of the reporters also rate livestock water supplies as adequate, and 29 per cent as inadequate.

Rainfall in the past week was very low throughout this crop district area, ranging from nil to two or three millimetres at the most.

Meanwhile, due to provincial budget cuts, as all extension agrologist positions were cut, Moats will be done as of Friday, April 30, and changes to how the services are provided will be worked out in the coming weeks and months.