March 28 - -Row crop seedbed preparation continued with all crops being equal to or ahead of the five-year average. Winter wheat and other small grains continued to flourish during the week. Winter wheat jointing remained slightly ahead of the five-year average but dipped slightly behind the level at this time last year. Snow and rain in some areas limited the amount of field work that was done over the week, but there were still 4.8 days suitable for field activities.
 

TOPSOIL MOISTURE BY PERCENT
	Very Short	Short	Adequate	Surplus
This Week	3	18	72	7
Last Week	1	16	80	3
Last Year	0	11	86	3
SUBSOIL MOISTURE BY PERCENT
	Very Short	Short	Adequate	Surplus
This Week	3	8	82	7
Last Week	2	5	88	5
Last Year	2	23	73	2

Small Grains: Wheat conditions continue to vary slightly as some fields were beginning to show signs of stress from the dry weather. Wheat jointing, at 57 percent, was a 12 point increase from last week. Several indications of disease were reported in wheat in the Southwest district including powdery mildew, leaf rust, and barley yellow dwarf. Spring planting of oats increased 3 points and inched closer to completion while jointing was just getting underway.

Row Crops: Land preparation for spring planting continued. All row crops made good progress over the week. Soybeans were the only crop that did not make progress ahead of both last year and the five-year average. However, at 27 percent, the soybean seedbed preparation was equal to the five-year average and only 3 points behind this time last year. Corn planted ranged from none planted in the Panhandle and North Central districts to 91 percent planted in the Southeast district. Many of the seedbeds for cotton and peanuts have dried out, so rain will be needed before peanut and cotton planting can get started.
 

SMALL GRAIN CONDITION BY PERCENT Week Ending March 27, 2005
	Very  Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Wheat
This Week	1	3	24	53	19
Last Week	1	3	22	57	17
Last Year	4	10	28	49	9
Rye
This Week	1	3	15	66	15
Oats
This Week	1	4	37	53	5

Pasture and Range: Warm temperatures and good soil moisture have allowed grasses to continue to "green up". Range burning continued in some portions of the State. Hay supplies remained mostly average with the East Central district reporting 85 percent above average and the Southwest district still showing hay supplies as 31 percent below average.

Livestock: Livestock were rated mostly good. In the southwest portion of the state, rain was needed for the wheat pasture. Overall, graze-out small grain pastures were looking reasonably well. The death loss of cattle continues to be light. Livestock insect activities were mostly none to light. Feeder steers less than 800 pounds averaged $113.54 per cwt. and feeder heifers less than 800 pounds averaged $104.42 per cwt.
 

LIVESTOCK CONDITION BY PERCENT Week Ending March 27, 2005
	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Livestock	0	3	21	63	13
Pasture & Range	1	9	34	47	9

 

OKLAHOMA CROP PROGRESS Week Ending March 27, 2005
Item	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 - Yr Avg.	Item	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 - Yr Avg.
Wheat -					Sorghum
Jointing	57	45	59	50	Seedbed Prepared	23	21	15	18
Oats -					Soybeans
Planted	95	92	94	90	Seedbed Prepared	27	20	30	27
Jointing	9	2	17	16	Peanuts
Rye					Seedbed Prepared	24	9	23	22
Jointing	83	65	77	N/A	Cotton
Corn -					Seedbed Prepared	49	38	44	44
Seedbed Prepared	52	48	47	44
Planted	19	6	13	9

Weather for Week Ending March 27, 2005 - Temperatures ranged from 11 degrees at Kenton on Sunday, March 27^th to 81 degrees at Altus on Thursday, March 24^th. Precipitation averaged 0.08 inches in West Central district to 2.47 inches in Southeast district. Soil temperatures averaged 39 degrees at Hooker on Saturday, March 26^th, to 65 degrees at Waurika on Monday, March 21^st.
 

MESONET TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION DATA Week Ending March 27, 2005
Districts	Temperature			Precipitation
	High	Low	Average	This  Week	March 1, 2005 to March 27, 2005
					Total	Departure from Normal	Percent of Normal
	Degrees			Inches
Panhandle	52	31	41	0.31	0.56	-0.86	39
West Central	57	38	46	0.08	0.80	-1.29	38
Southwest	61	40	50	0.14	0.44	-1.53	22
North Central	54	38	45	0.57	0.73	-1.60	31
Central	58	41	48	0.39	0.65	-2.17	23
South Central	61	43	51	0.47	0.69	-2.40	22
Northeast	54	40	47	1.15	1.29	-1.90	41
East Central	56	42	48	1.45	1.57	-1.99	44
Southeast	59	43	51	2.47	2.64	-1.26	68

"OKLAHOMA CROP WEATHER SUMMARY" (ISSN 0194-4770) is issued weekly March - November, monthly January and February, no issue in December, by Oklahoma Agricultural Statistics, P.O. Box 528804, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and additional Mailing Offices.

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