Released: October 16, 2000 -- 3:00 p.m CST For Week Ending October 15, 2000 SD-CW4100 Volume 49 Issue 41

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Dry conditions are hastening row crop harvest while holding winter crops back and keeping ranchers busy, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major activities by farmers were combining corn and soy beans and hauling grain. Ranchers were busy keeping cattle fed and watered, moving them to stubble, and weaning calves. Statewide, there were 6.1 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.

WEATHER INFORMATION:   Temperatures last week ranged from a low of 12 degrees in Brookings to a high of 79 degrees at Porcupine, with average temperatures in the upper 40's to low 50's. Nine stations reported over a tenth of an inch of precipitation.

SOIL CONDITION:    Soil moisture shortages continue to hamper crops and pasture growth. The soil is too dry for crops, pasture, or livestock. Topsoil moisture conditions rated 72 percent short or very short, down one point from last week. Subsoil moisture rated very short increased by 8 percentage points. Soil tempera tures reported averaged 2.2 degrees cooler then average.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Weeks of dry weather have row crop harvest far ahead of average, but winter wheat emergence is behind average. Producers made excellent progress harvesting all row crops, with soybeans leading the way. Soybeans, at 85 percent harvested, moved to 29 percentage points ahead of the five-year average and 19 points over last week. Corn harvest, at 46 percent complete, is 23 points ahead of the five-year average. Sunflower harvested jumped 20 points from last week, now 65 percent complete, also well ahead of the five-year average. Winter wheat seeded made little progress, while emergence is 36 percentage points behind the average.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Calves are being weaned as ranchers are starting to bring cattle in early from pastures grown short. There were many reports of dry stock dams, with 29 percent of the stock water supplies rated very short. Range and pasture rated 37 percent in very poor to poor condi tion, compared to 34 last week. Feed supplies are rated 75 percent adequate to surplus, compared to 80 percent last week. Cattle and sheep rated 80 and 64 percent in good to excellent condition, respectively.

   SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
            AS OF OCTOBER 15 

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

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     35    28    3    39    31     2
Short      37    45   15    33    41    14
Adeq.      28    27   71    28    28    72
Surplus     0     0   11     0     0    12


     SOIL TEMPERATURES AS OF OCTOBER 15       
                (4-inch Depth)

LOCATION      TEMP             LOCATION   TEMP
Beresford      54              Gettysburg   51
Brookings      48              Nisland      52
Caputa         49              Pierre       54
Chamberlain    54              Redfield     49
Cottonwood     52              Watertown    48

 CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS AS OF OCT. 15 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Alfalfa       14      18     31      30      7
Corn           4       8     19      46     23
Sorghum        4      12     34      47      3
Sunflower      6       7     27      43     17
Cattle         0       2     18      63     17
Sheep          1       5     30      53     11
Range & 
   Pasture    14      23     34      23      6

             
     CROP PROGRESS AS OF OCTOBER 15 1/
                                                                                     
                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
                         Percent
Corn    
 grain harvested     46     31     23     23
Sorghum 
 grain harvested     68     43     26     34
 silage harvested    98     80     81     86
Soybeans
 mature              99     98     92     96
 harvested           85     66     52     56
Sunflower
 mature              98     93     76     93
 harvested           65     45     17     36
Winter wheat
 seeded              79     78     95     97
 emerged             46     36     78     82 
Winter rye
 seeded              94     87     94     87
 emerged             74     65     77     85  

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


     TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, and GROWING DEGREE DAYS
            WEEK ENDING SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2000



             TEMPERATURE       -----  PRECIPITATION -----    
             -----------          SINCE  SINCE  SINCE  SINCE 
            CURRENT WEEK    CURR  JAN 1  APR 1  JAN 1  APR 1 
STATION    AVG DFN  HI  LO  WEEK  TOTAL  TOTAL    DFN    DFN 
-------     --  --  --  -- -----  -----  -----  -----  ----- 
Bison       51  +3  73  28  0.00  13.93  11.40  -1.57  -2.08 
Buffalo     52  +4  77  31  0.00   9.93   9.18  -2.85  -2.38 
Dupree      53  +2  72  31  0.04  16.25  12.48  +0.97  -1.06 
Mc Intosh   52  +3  72  32  0.20  15.41   9.14  +0.19  -4.56 
Newell      49  +0  73  21  0.04  13.16  11.60  -0.62  -0.64 
Timber Lake 51  +2  67  31  0.24  16.27  11.85  +0.11  -2.30 
Aberdeen    50  +2  70  25  0.00  19.49  17.32  +2.38  +2.45 
Eureka      51  +3  68  29  0.30  18.83  14.88  +3.27  +0.95 
Faulkton    52  +4  73  23  0.10  19.85  17.70  +2.76  +2.77 
Mobridge    53  +4  71  37  0.15  15.54  12.94  +0.04  -0.60 
Roscoe      48  -2  68  23  0.12  22.57  18.98  +5.35  +3.74 
Britton     52  +3  70  27  0.17  18.16  17.00  +0.91  +1.50 
Clear Lake  48  -3  67  19  0.03  15.51  13.62  -6.26  -5.18 
Sisseton    50  -1  72  27  0.05  17.84  15.58  -1.16  -0.93 
Webster     49  +1  67  29  0.00  15.78  14.05  -3.40  -2.79 
Watertown   49  -1  68  24  0.00  16.12  14.75  -3.93  -2.71 
Faith       52  +1  71  28  0.01  17.21  14.34  +1.91  +0.90 
Milesville  52  +2  73  32  0.00  15.20  11.61  -1.32  -2.94 
Long Valley 54  +2  73  33  0.05  16.39  12.51  -0.17  -2.12 
Philip      52  +1  74  32  0.00  11.36   9.26  -3.41  -3.83 
Rapid City  53  +3  73  30  0.08  18.22  14.54  +3.07  +1.38 
Spearfish   54  +5  76  30  0.00  14.35  12.16  -5.48  -4.81 
Chamberlain 52  -1  78  20  0.00  13.57  12.62  -2.55  -1.68 
Highmore    54  +3  72  32  0.00  15.30  13.67  -2.83  -2.32 
Huron       52  +3  75  27  0.00  15.65  14.55  -2.59  -0.88 
Onida       53  +2  72  31  0.01  16.72  15.11  -0.01  +0.77 
Pierre      57  +6  75  38  0.00   9.39   8.17  -7.71  -6.84 
Brookings   47  -2  69  12  0.19  18.30  16.09  -2.78  -2.95 
Madison     48  -2  71  17  0.12  21.56  19.67  +0.09  +1.38 
Mitchell    51  -1  76  18  0.02  18.51  15.18  -1.42  -2.05 
Sioux Falls 51  +2  72  22  0.02  22.34  19.68  +0.97  +1.17 
Custer      47  +2  71  27  0.01  13.90  12.78  -3.60  -2.80 
Hot Springs 51  -1  75  26  0.00  12.20  10.02  -2.44  -3.09 
Oelrichs    49  -3  73  27  0.06  14.67  12.11  -0.74  -1.33 
Porcupine   51  +2  79  30  0.00  16.86  12.52  +2.18  -0.64 
Murdo       52  +1  71  21  0.02  14.83  12.55  -1.60  -1.56 
Winner      53  -2  75  30  0.06  14.84  13.96  -6.77  -4.76 
Armour      54  +2  76  28  0.04  15.63  13.56  -5.15  -4.27 
Centerville 49  -2  74  17  0.13  18.57  15.34  -4.11  -4.50 
Marion      46  -4  73  20  0.09  18.92  16.57  -3.07  -2.35 
Pickstown   53  +0  78  18  0.00  11.85   9.79  -8.33  -7.83 
Vermillion  54  +0  77  24  0.00  17.83  15.53  -4.36  -3.97 
Yankton     52  -1  77  18  0.00  24.02  21.13  +2.73  +2.40 


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

Map to weather reporting stations

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

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