Farmers have had a challenging start to the harvest with the rain causing delays in desiccating pulse crops.

Here in the Southwest, the majority of producers have seen far more rain than usual.

Peggy Koethler farms south of Swift Current and say while the hay crop was great – the rain and excess moisture is making the harvest a challenge:

"Days are short because it is so damp in the morning they can't get going. Then it is damp again in the evening so they have to quit sooner."

Koethler says they’ve had about 18 inches of rain at the farm, about 3 times as much as they would normally see.

"Well right now we did have a little bit of hail on the lentils and we have a lot of hay bailed around our yard so that is done. The bails are completely done and the hay crop looks wonderful."

She notes it’s challenging trying to get the crop off this year with all the moisture – adding days are short with the heavy dew in the morning.

Farmers are looking for some hot dry weather – so they can get this year’s crop in the bin.