Semi-Arid Tropics : Wait for 1st rain to dig the swale ?

Dear all,

Is it recommended to wait for the first moonsoon rain before digging your swales ?

I am in Mali, in the Sahel region, and trying to dig the swale before the raining season starts will be quite energy/time consuming.
Is it a bad strategy to wait for the drops of rain to drop before you start digging your swale ?

Thanks a lot

Eli

Where I live the soil gets super hard during the dry season also, so I wait to dig until it has rained enough to soften the soil so I can get my pick and shovel into it.

If it's a rocky area, you could potentially move the first layer of rocks away from where you're digging(lining them up where the bottom of the swale hillock will be may be a cool addition) - that way the first rain is able to penetrate further into the dirt to soften it for your digging.

Thanks for the answers.

Actually here the soil is not that hard, but it  would still require a lot of time to dig it before the first rains.

So I'll probably wait for the first rains to come and then dig my swales. I just wanted to check if there was no counter indications.