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Released: August 7, 2000 -- 3:00 p.m. CST For Week Ending August 6, 2000 Volume 49 Issue 23

GENERAL:    Weather conditions last week allowed producers to make excellent progress harvesting small grains, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major activities by farmers and ranchers were spraying, irrigation, haying, caring for livestock, and small grain harvest. Statewide, there were 5.9 days suitable for fieldwork. This report is based on information from county extension educators, farm service agency county directors, and other reporters across the state.

SOIL CONDITIONS:    Soil moisture conditions continue to decline, as many portions of the state have not received sufficient amounts of precipitation. Fifty percent of the state is reporting short or very short topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions. 



    SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON AUGUST 6

               TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
          This  Last Last  This  Last  Last
RATING    Week  Week Year  Week  Week  Year

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     20    13    1    21    16     0
Short      30    29   29    29    25    13
Adeq.      48    55   64    45    56    77
Surplus     2     3    6     5     3    10

CROPS:    Continued dry weather aided producers in completing small grain harvest. Winter small grain harvest is almost complete, as winter wheat is 97 percent harvested and winter rye is 75 percent harvested. Spring small grain harvest made the most progress, as barley harvested increased to 74 percent, oats harvested moved to 87 percent, and spring wheat jumped 50 percentage points to 72 percent harvested. Corn continues to be mostly in good to excellent condition with 28 percent doughing and 8 percent now in the dent stage, both ahead of last year and the five- year averages. Eighty-eight percent of soybeans are blooming and 61 percent are setting pods, also ahead of last year and averages. Fifty-eight percent of sunflower are blooming, with 7 percent of the ray flowers dry and 4 percent of bracts yellow. 

 
            CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS AUGUST 6

ITEM         V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Winter Rye     0       0     11      57     32
Alfalfa        8      17     31      37      7
Barley         0       1      7      73     19
Oats           0       5     19      60     16
Spring Wheat   1       5     16      52     26
Corn           1       6     22      48     23
Soybeans       2       6     19      48     25
Sorghum        0       4     49      33     14
Sunflower      0       5     32      44     19
Cattle         0       1      8      66     25
Sheep          0       0      7      65     28
Range & 
   Pasture     3      15     27      44     11

LIVESTOCK AND FORAGE:    Warm weather continues to shorten water supplies, but livestock remain in mostly good to excellent condition. Ninety-one percent of cattle and 93 percent of sheep are in good to excellent condition. Second cutting of alfalfa is 84 percent complete, 13 percentage points ahead of last year, and third cutting of alfalfa is now 24 percent complete. Other hay harvested is 84 percent complete.

WEATHER:    The later part of last week brought scattered severe weather to parts of the state. Hail damage was reported in a few areas, but the effect on crops is not yet known. Average temperatures were near normal during the week. A high of 102 degrees was recorded in Pierre, and Newell had the low for the week of 49 degrees. Precipitation varied through the state, as some stations reported no precipitation for the week, but several stations reported amounts of an inch or more. Faulkton, reporting 5.64 inches, received the most precipitation last week. 

             
                 CROP PROGRESS - AUGUST 6 1/
                                                                                                    
                  This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM              Week   Week   Year    Ave
                           Percent
Barley  
 ripe              97     77     82     72
 harvested         74     31     49     34
Spring Wheat
 ripe              95     74     84     68
 harvested         72     22     51     28
Oats    
 ripe              98     85     86     76
 harvested         87     48     63     46
Corn     
 tasseling         96     88     91     87
 silked            86     68     78     69
 dough             28     13     24     15
 dented             8      5      1      2
Sorghum 
 headed            55     45     30     31
 coloring          15     10     21      8
Soybeans
 blooming          88     84     88     82
 setting pods      61     44     49     45
Sunflower
 blooming          58     16     42     41
 ray flowers dry    7      1      6      7
 bracts yellow      4     NA      4      4
Winter wheat
 harvested         97     85     94     82
Winter rye
 harvested         75     43     75     65
Alfalfa  
 2nd cutting       84     74     71     69
 3rd cutting       24     11     14     NA
Other hay 
 cut               84     81     79     78

1/ Percents represent all acreage in or beyond each stage.




             TEMPERATURE       -----  PRECIPITATION -----     GDD BASE 50F
             -----------          SINCE  SINCE  SINCE  SINCE  ------------
            CURRENT WEEK    CURR  JAN 1  APR 1  JAN 1  APR 1 SINCE APRIL 1
STATION     VG DFN  HI  LO  WEEK  TOTAL  TOTAL    DFN    DFN  TOTAL   DFN
-------     --  --  --  --| -----  ----- -----  -----  -----| -----  ----
Bison       76   3  95	55| 0.00  13.32  10.79   0.88   0.37| 1614    63
Buffalo     77   5  99  56| 0.14   8.96   8.21  -1.08  -0.61| 1585   112
Dupree      77   3  96  57| 0.10  15.51	 11.74   3.24	1.21| 1631    81
McIntosh    74   1  97  53| 0.00  14.45   8.18   2.73  -2.02| 1509   -98
Newell      72  -2  96  49| 0.31  12.24  10.68   1.33   1.31| 1382  -165
Timber Lake 75   2  94  54| 0.00  15.29  10.87   2.67   0.26| 1599   -48
Aberdeen     7  -1  90  58| 0.85  17.80  15.63   4.87   4.94| 1624   -45
Eureka      75   3  94  57| 0.42  17.29  13.34   5.40   3.08| 1605    58
Faulkton    77   5  97  57| 5.64  18.43  16.28   5.50   5.51| 1850   215
Mobridge    77   4  98	57| 0.52  14.59  11.99	 2.49	1.85| 1619   -72
Roscoe	    74   1  95	59| 4.04  20.79  17.20	 7.31	5.70| 1482  -146
Britton     74	 1  88	61| 0.63  15.33	 14.17	 2.43	3.02| 1772    73
Clear Lake  72 	 1  87	58| 0.87  13.90	 12.01	-2.20  -1.12| 1499  -152
Sisseton    73	-2  93	55| 1.30  15.70	 13.44	 1.64	1.87| 1556  -189
Webster     72 	-2  87	60| 0.73  14.06  12.33	-0.15	0.46| 1574   -67
Watertown   73	-1  89	53| 1.13  14.69  13.32	-0.26	0.96| 1586   -64
Faith	    76	 2  96	56| 0.05  16.60	 13.73	 4.17	3.16| 1600  -100
Milesville  77	 2  97	57| 0.11  13.81  10.22	 0.89  -0.73| 1718  -100
Long Valley 77	 2  96	56| 0.06  14.29	 10.41	 0.93  -1.02| 1848    58
Philip	    78	 2 101	56| 0.00  10.42	  8.32	-1.45  -1.87| 1757  -111
Rapid City  77	 5  99	54| 0.53  17.23	 13.55	 5.20	3.51| 1598    75
Spearfish   72	 0  95	52| 0.35  12.41	 10.22	-3.32  -2.65| 1436   -20
Chamberlain 77	 0  93	59| 0.74  11.24	 10.29	-1.41  -0.54| 1823  -162
Highmore    77	 3  96	59| 0.51  14.26  12.63	 0.31	0.82| 1880    94
Huron       76   2  95	54| 0.93  14.58  13.48   0.36	2.07| 1860    75
Onida       77   2 100	56| 0.58  13.21  11.60   0.05	0.83| 1671  -172
Pierre      81	 5 102	61| 0.18   8.82	  7.60	-4.74  -3.87| 2045   157
Brookings   71   2  89	52| 1.10  16.58  14.37   1.31	1.14| 1517    12
Madison     73   2  88	53| 0.55  17.51  15.62   1.70	2.99| 1635    -6
Mitchell    75	 0  94	57| 3.55  16.83  13.50   1.92	1.29| 1856   -76
Sioux Falls 74	-1  88	54| 1.82  19.10  16.44   4.10	4.30| 1731   -78
Custer      68   2  88	51| 0.56  13.01  11.89	-0.88  -0.08| 1017    20
Hot Springs 75	 1  97	53| 0.31  10.70	  8.52	-1.04  -1.69| 1665   -30
Oelrichs    76	 1 100	56| 0.37  12.57  10.01   0.20  -0.39| 1680   -84
Porcupine   75	-1  96	53| 0.19  15.48  11.14	 3.54	0.72| 1559  -163
Murdo	    78	 4  97	59| 0.00  13.91	 11.63	 0.59	0.63| 1781     1
Winner	    78	 1  95	59| 0.07  13.15  12.27	-3.81  -1.80| 2056   -29
Armour	    78	 3  95	60| 2.21  12.39  10.32	-3.43  -2.55| 2064    62
Centerville 73	 0  90	54| 1.58  15.20  11.97	-1.59  -1.98| 1881    40
Marion      74   2  89	58| 2.05  15.69  13.34	-0.19	0.53| 1752   -50
Pickstown   79	 3  98	59| 0.00   9.40   7.34	-5.61  -5.11| 2017    72
Vermillion  76	 0  90	56| 0.64  13.58  11.28	-2.93  -2.54| 2076   -28
Yankton     75	 1  92	59| 1.57  17.47  14.58   1.50	1.17| 1960    35
 
Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches.
Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit.


 
 
 
South Dakota county map showing topsoil moisture South Dakota county map showing subsoil moisture

Topsoil image in 'TIF' format for publishers
Subsoil image in 'TIF' format for publishers
 

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