Spring seeding in Montana is off to a slow start.
Weather has hampered producers so far this spring and three-quarters of them haven t started yet, the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday. Only 8 percent of tillage work is well underway, and 19 percent is just getting started, the service said in its weekly report. In many places last week, snow prevented fieldwork, and only 2 percent of the spring seeding had been completed, the service said. That compares with 6 percent completed last year and the five-year average of 3 percent. The lingering snow cover, however, has helped prevent serious damage to winter wheat, the report said.