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Released: September 25, 2000 -- 3:00 p.m CST For Week Ending September 24, 2000 Volume 49 Issue 30

GENERAL:    Cooler temperatures and precipitation on Thursday and Friday brought welcome relief to winter crops and lowered fire danger, although rains were too light to help stock dams and too late for row crops, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statis tics Service. Major activities by farmers were seeding winter crops, preparing to combine, and cutting silage. Ranchers were busy feeding supplemental hay to cattle, moving cattle to water, and taking calves to market. Statewide, there were 5.5 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:    Water quality of stock dams and soil moisture concerns did not decline, despite wide spread rains. Topsoil moisture improved from the previous week for only the second time since June 18. Subsoil moisture conditions rated 27 percent adequate and zero surplus, down 7 percentage points from last week. 



 SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON SEPTEMBER 24

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

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     33    32    4    37    27     2
Short      40    45   12    36    39    10
Adeq.      27    23   72    27    33    75
Surplus     0     0   12     0     1    13

CROPS:    Cool, damp, wet weather toward the end of the week slowed harvest and fieldwork, after excellent progress was made early in the week. Corn in dent stage, at 99 percent, and corn rated mature, at 77 percent, are both ahead of last year and five-year averages. Late week rains stopped harvest of corn at 10 percent complete and soybeans at 16 percent, compared to 4 and 6 percent, respectively, a year ago. In anticipation of the late week rain, winter wheat and winter rye seeding progress moved to 44 and 53 percent complete respectively, remaining behind the five-year averages. Late week rains should boost emergence, with 13 percent of winter wheat and 8 percent of winter rye emerged. 

 
     CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS SEPTEMBER 24

ITEM         V POOR  POOR   FAIR    GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Alfalfa       14      22     27      32      5
Corn           6       9     22      42     21
Soybeans       3      11     23      43     20
Sorghum        3      30     32      33      2
Sunflower      5      13     33      39     10
Cattle         0       3     21      60     16
Sheep          0       2     15      63     20
Range & 
   Pasture    13      23     34      24      6

LIVESTOCK AND FORAGE:    The moisture reduced dust problems for ranchers weaning calves. Despite both poor water supplies and range and pasture conditions, cattle are rated 76 percent in good to excellent condition. There were several reports of cattle getting stuck in depleted stock dams. Sheep rated 83 percent in good to excellent condition, unchanged from last week. WEATHER:    Cool air moved into the state late in the week, bringing rain and snow. The largest temperature range during the week occurred at Phillip; with a high of 104 and a low of 22 degrees. Average temperatures were cooler than normal, ranging from 61 at Pierre to 48 at Custer. Every station reported precipitation, which ranged from 0.07 to 0.99 inch. 



             
      CROP PROGRESS - SEPTEMPBER 24 1/
                                                                                                    
                  This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM              Week   Week   Year    Ave
                           Percent
Corn    
 dented            99     92     95     93
 mature            77     41     49     51
 grain harvested   10      2      4      4
 silage harvested  91     79     75     57
Sorghum 
 coloring          94     86     96     94
 mature            52     27     46     48
 grain harvested   16      5      5      5
 silage harvested  70     48     35     34
Soybeans
 dropping leaves   96     83     70     77
 mature            74     34     32     41
 harvested         16      4      6      6
Sunflower
 ray flowers dry   99     95     93     98
 bracts yellow     89     75     77     84
 mature            50     24     29     40
 harvested         10      2      1      4
Winter wheat
 seeded            44     20     56     65
 emerged           13      2     17     28 
Winter rye
 seeded            53     33     54     67
 emerged            8      5     30     38  
Alfalfa  
 3rd cutting        75     69     77     NA
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    AVG DFN  HI  LO  WEEK  TOTAL  TOTAL    DFN    DFN  TOTAL   DFN
Bison        52  -6  92  26  0.25  13.68  11.15  -1.02  -1.53   2597  +292
Buffalo      52  -5  95  25  0.28   9.53   8.78  -2.50  -2.03   2575  +389
Dupree       53  -6  93  24  0.23  15.92  12.15  +1.48  -0.55   2663  +127
Mc Intosh    53  -4  92  26  0.41  15.40   9.13  +0.99  -3.76   2400   +54
Newell       49  -8  92  23  0.33  12.91  11.35  -0.03  -0.05   2257   -35
Timber Lake  52  -6  92  23  0.38  15.85  11.43  +0.53  -1.88   2543  +148
Aberdeen     55  -3  95  23  0.44  19.16  16.99  +2.99  +3.06   2451   +38
Eureka       53  -3  91  26  0.69  18.38  14.43  +3.66  +1.34   2458  +205
Faulkton     58  +2  98  28  0.24  19.44  17.29  +3.31  +3.32   2819  +447
Mobridge     55  -3  97  25  0.43  15.19  12.59  +0.53  -0.11   2603  +137
Roscoe       53  -5  93  27  0.33  21.98  18.39  +5.62  +4.01   2272   -99
Britton      55  -4  89  26  0.86  17.89  16.73  +1.68  +2.27   2657  +190
Clear Lake   52  -7  85  18  0.73  15.38  13.49  -4.94  -3.86   2247  -134
Sisseton     56  -3  93  27  0.72  17.35  15.09  -0.49  -0.26   2372  -149
Webster      51  -6  90  30  0.59  15.53  13.80  -2.55  -1.94   2374   +17
Watertown    55  -3  88  25  0.64  16.00  14.63  -2.70  -1.48   2398   +12
Faith        56  -4  97  27  0.25  17.01  14.14  +2.54  +1.53   2643  +120
Milesville   55  -5  96  25  0.30  14.86  11.27  -0.72  -2.34   2789   +99
Long_Valley  56  -5  96  26  0.29  15.73  11.85  -0.04  -1.99   2966  +300
Philip       58  -3 104  22  0.10  10.85   8.75  -3.09  -3.51   2875  +104
Rapid City   55  -3 101  28  0.40  17.85  14.17  +3.54  +1.85   2642  +360
Spearfish    50  -7  85  26  0.13  13.61  11.42  -4.97  -4.30   2385  +211
Chamberlain  58  -4  99  30  0.07  12.96  12.01  -2.32  -1.45   2874   -50
Highmore     57  -2  96  26  0.14  14.88  13.25  -2.21  -1.70   2945  +309
Huron        58  +0  95  23  0.07  15.33  14.23  -1.84  -0.13   2854  +268
Onida        53  -7  97  23  0.13  16.43  14.82  +0.54  +1.32   2665   -45
Pierre       61  +2 104  25  0.07   9.07   7.85  -7.06  -6.19   3273  +490
Brookings    52  -4  87  26  0.62  18.01  15.80  -1.68  -1.85   2254   +98
Madison      54  -5  90  28  0.80  21.18  19.29  +1.09  +2.38   2443   +77
Mitchell     57  -4  93  32  0.26  17.88  14.55  -0.81  -1.44   2786    -4
Sioux Falls  57  -2  92  30  0.52  21.79  19.13  +1.94  +2.14   2638   +35
Custer       48  -6  89  24  0.37  13.65  12.53  -3.05  -2.25   1761  +256
Hot Springs  52  -8  96  30  0.78  11.72   9.54  -2.14  -2.79   2630  +109
Oelrichs     55  -5 100  28  0.99  14.39  11.83  -0.23  -0.82   2722   +81
Porcupine    54  -5  99  27  0.57  16.60  12.26  +2.70  -0.12   2534    +4
Murdo        57  -3 100  28  0.08  14.43  12.15  -1.10  -1.06   2862  +247
Winner       59  -4  94  32  0.15  13.73  12.85  -6.72  -4.71   3227  +176
Armour       58  -4  94  34  0.34  14.85  12.78  -4.62  -3.74   3127  +227
Centerville  56  -3  93  33  0.69  17.96  14.73  -3.30  -3.69   2779  +155
Marion       55  -4  92  35  0.37  18.10  15.75  -2.44  -1.72   2615   +44
Pickstown    59  -2  98  38  0.35  11.53   9.47  -7.37  -6.87   3112  +273
Vermillion   58  -5  92  35  0.13  17.51  15.21  -3.33  -2.94   3127  +108
Yankton      58  -3  93  35  0.31  23.56  20.67  +3.52  +3.19   2942  +168

 
Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches.
Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit.

bar chart showing crop progress compared to the last 10 years


 
 
 
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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