diff --git a/flow/activities/flowable.go b/flow/activities/flowable.go
index 7b5a7a173c..4084a19c22 100644
--- a/flow/activities/flowable.go
+++ b/flow/activities/flowable.go
@@ -668,6 +668,12 @@ func (a *FlowableActivity) QRepWaitUntilNewRows(ctx context.Context,
 		waitBetweenBatches = time.Duration(config.WaitBetweenBatchesSeconds) * time.Second
 	}
 
+	if config.WatermarkColumn == "xmin" {
+		// for xmin we ignore the wait between batches, as seq scan time is
+		// extremely slow.
+		waitBetweenBatches = 10 * time.Second
+	}
+
 	srcConn, err := connectors.GetQRepPullConnector(ctx, config.SourcePeer)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get qrep source connector: %w", err)
diff --git a/flow/connectors/postgres/qrep.go b/flow/connectors/postgres/qrep.go
index 56d9cddcf7..69f2957a4b 100644
--- a/flow/connectors/postgres/qrep.go
+++ b/flow/connectors/postgres/qrep.go
@@ -101,7 +101,6 @@ func (c *PostgresConnector) getNumRowsPartitions(
 		// if there is a last partition, we will return a partition with the last partition's end value + 1 and the max value
 		if last != nil && last.Range != nil {
 			minValInt += 1
-			minVal = minValInt
 		}
 
 		if minValInt > maxValInt {
@@ -114,15 +113,15 @@ func (c *PostgresConnector) getNumRowsPartitions(
 
 		log.WithFields(log.Fields{
 			"flowName": config.FlowJobName,
-		}).Infof("single xmin partition range: %v - %v", minVal, maxVal)
+		}).Infof("single xmin partition range: %v - %v", minValInt, maxValInt)
 
 		partition := &protos.QRepPartition{
 			PartitionId: uuid.New().String(),
 			Range: &protos.PartitionRange{
 				Range: &protos.PartitionRange_IntRange{
 					IntRange: &protos.IntPartitionRange{
-						Start: minVal.(int64),
-						End:   maxVal.(int64),
+						Start: minValInt,
+						End:   maxValInt,
 					},
 				},
 			},