NEW MEXICO: There were 4.2 days suitable for fieldwork. Farmers harvested cotton, chile, and sorghum late in the week. Red chile harvest continued with 78% of the crop harvested to date. Cotton harvest, again slowed by the weeks moisture, was reported at 55% harvested. Sorghum was reported at 59% harvested. Peanut harvest neared completion with 90% of the crop harvested. Wheat condition was reported at 17% fair, 61% good, and 22% excellent. Ranchers were moving cattle to winter pastures. Cattle conditions were reported as 10% poor, 24% fair, 51% good and 15% excellent. Sheep conditions were at 4% very poor, 19% poor, 32% fair, 36% good and 9% excellent. Pasture conditions were reported at 7% very poor, 23% poor, 38% fair, 31% good, and 1% excellent.
 

CROP PROGRESS PERCENTAGES WITH COMPARISONS
CROP PROGRESS		This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5-Year Average
CHILE	Harvested-Red	78	74	74	82
COTTON	Harvested	55	45	79	83
PEANUTS	Harvested	90	78	100	83
SORGHUM (All)	Harvested	59	53	65	80

One storm system impacted much of New Mexico at the beginning of the week, and a second storm began impacting the state at the end of the week. Roy measured 1.28 inches of precipitation, the greatest total reported. However, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Tucumcari, Roswell, Tatum and Carlsbad all measured at least three quarters of an inch of moisture. Temperatures for the week were close to normal.

NEW MEXICO WEATHER CONDITIONS NOVEMBER 22 - 28, 2004
	Temperature			Precipitation
Station	Mean	Maximum	Minimum	11/22 11/28	11/01 11/28	Normal Nov	01/01 11/28	Normal Jan-Nov
Carlsbad	49.1	73	32	0.91	4.57	0.59	21.45	12 .38
Tatum	46.1	65	29	0.97	3.33	0.55	34.68	15 .57
Roswell	47.6	66	30	0.86	2.95	0.55	20.79	12 .38
Clayton	39.7	61	25	0.57	1.55	0.52	25.99	14 .80
Clovis	44.8	65	25	0.27	1.67	0.73	21.81	16 .97
Roy	37.3	54	20	1.28	2.06	0.50	20.19	15 .29
Tucumcari	43.5	64	26	0.83	2.45	0.51	20.56	13 .90
Chama	28.7	47	7	0.13	0.35	1.72	14.24	19 .81
Johnson Ranch	33.0	53	11	0.04	0.06	0.69	11.26	10 .85
Capulin	32.0	53	11	0.53	1.81	0.67	23.27	16 .94
Las Vegas	32.8	51	18	0.75	1.35	0.58	21.51	18 .36
Los Alamos	33.6	44	22	0.26	1.15	1.02	16.89	17 .64
Raton	35.1	57	18	0.03	1.44	0.61	25.73	16 .22
Santa Fe	33.5	52	15	0.84	1.01	0.63	11.82	13 .21
Red River	27.3	43	5	0.44	1.37	1.18	22.03	19 .33
Farmington	37.9	55	24	0.01	0.69	0.94	8.30	8 .12
Gallup	34.5	52	16	0.61	0.73	0.95	6.68	11 .91
Grants	36.5	56	20	0.54	0.85	0.58	8.48	10 .14
Silver City	46.8	64	34	0.00	1.40	0.70	23.14	14 .72
Quemado	35.0	54	19	0.36	1.48	0.45	11.18	13 .04
Albuquerque	42.4	55	28	0.87	1.23	0.43	11.36	8 .38
Carrizozo	39.5	56	28	0.62	0.62	0.76	10.41	12 .07
Gran Quivera	38.0	53	23	0.38	1.31	0.91	16.54	14 .92
Moriarty	37.8	53	25	0.29	0.75	0.40	13.06	12 .17
Ruidoso	38.9	53	24	0.38	2.87	0.88	23.76	19 .72
Socorro	43.9	64	25	0.23	0.94	0.47	9.76	8 .95
Alamogordo	47.4	59	32	0.51	1.30	0.71	11.48	11 .92
Animas	47.3	64	28	0.48	1.20	0.71	13.69	10 .62
Deming	45.6	63	29	0.45	1.47	0.64	10.56	9 .73
T or C	45.5	63	32	0.13	1.27	0.60	8.51	9 .22
Las Cruces	46.0	63	30	0.17	1.60	0.53	12.94	8 .72
(T) Trace (-) No Report (*) Correction All reports based on preliminary data. Precipitation data corrected monthly from official observation forms.

NEW MEXICO: Cattle and Calves on feed for slaughter market in New Mexico for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 134,000 on November 1, 2004 compared to 136,000 in October. Placements in feedlots during October were 29,000 head, the same as September's total. Marketings of fed cattle during October increased by 10,000 from September to 29,000 head in October. Other disappearance totaled 2,000 head.

UNITED STATES: Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.3 million head on November 1, 2004. Placements in feedlots during October totaled 2.70 million, 3 percent below 2003 but 13 percent above 2002. Marketings of fed cattle during October totaled 1.80 million, 3 percent below 2003 and 9 percent below 2002. Other disappearance totaled 66,000 during October, 35 percent below 2003 and 21 percent below 2002 .
 

Cattle on Feed: Number on Feed, Placements, Marketings, and Other Disappearance, 1,000+ Capacity Feedlots 1/
	Number on Feed			Placed			Marketed			Other Disappearance2/
	11/1/03	10/1/04	11/1/04	---------------------------------------------DURING----------------------------------------------------
				10/03	9/04	10/04	10/03	9/04	10/04	10/03	9/04	10/04
	----------------------------------------------------------------------1,000 Head----------------------------------------------------------------------
AZ	278	298	321	26	28	48	22	25	21	1	1	4
CA	495	520	525	68	64	70	54	60	59	4	4	6
CO	1,050	1,020	1,090	270	275	260	160	180	185	10	5	5
ID	295	275	305	88	84	78	60	53	47	3	1	1
IA	350	375	430	113	70	125	72	69	68	1	1	2
KS	2,430	2,220	2,400	570	520	570	410	410	375	30	20	15
NE	2,140	1,940	2,210	640	470	600	320	320	325	10	10	5
NM	118	*136	134	19	*29	29	20	19	29	4	3	2
OK	350	340	360	78	80	87	74	62	64	4	3	3
SD	177	143	169	68	41	65	34	35	38	2	1	1
TX	2,840	2,770	2,880	680	600	650	530	490	520	30	10	20
WA	200	175	180	51	48	43	45	32	37	1	1	1
Oth Sts	320	285	330	110	76	76	54	45	30	1	1	1
US	11,043	*10,497	11,334	2,781	*2,385	2,701	1,855	1,800	1,798	101	61	66
* Revised. 1/ Cattle and calves on feed are animals for slaughter market being fed a ration of grain or other concentrates and are expected to produce a carcass that will grade select or better. 2/ Includes death losses, movement from feedlots to pastures, and shipments to other feedlots for further feeding.

NEW MEXICO-ARIZONA: There were 23,000 hired workers on farms and ranches in New Mexico and Arizona during the week of October 10^th - 16^th , 2004, up 28 percent from a year ago. Hours worked decreased 8.1 percent to an average of 44.0 hours per worker. Average wage rates for all hired workers declined by 43 cents from last year to $7.75 an hour. Wage rates for New Mexico and Arizona are well below the national average of $9.30 an hour.

UNITED STATES : There were 1,173,000 hired workers on the Nation's farms and ranches during the week of October 10-16, 2004, down 2 percent from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 851,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 322,000 workers. Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $9.30 per hour during the October 2004 reference week, up 25 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $8.60 per hour, up 18 cents from last October, while livestock workers earned $8.91 per hour compared with $8.64 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $8.67 per hour, was up 20 cents from last year. The number of hours worked averaged 40.5 hours for hired workers during the survey week, up 1 percent from a year ago.

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