Released: June 9, 2003 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending June 8, 2003 SD-CW2303 Volume 52 Issue 23

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Weather patterns varied throughout the week, from cloudy and wet to dry, sunny and windy. These trends influenced crop progress and conditions for many farmers across the state, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major farm activities included row crop seeding, spraying and applying fertilizer, cutting alfalfa, fixing fences, and moving cattle to pasture. Statewide, there were 4.3 days suitable for fieldwork last week. This report is based on information from county extension educators, farm service agency county directors, and other reporters across the state.

WEATHER INFORMATION:   All of the forty-three reporting weather stations received some precipitation last week, ranging from 0.15 inch in Pierre to 2.57 inches in Spearfish. The low temperature for the week was 30 degrees in Custer. The high for the week was 77 degrees in Vermillion.

SOIL CONDITION:    Soil moisture levels improved slightly last week, as topsoil moisture is now rated 80 percent adequate to surplus, compared to 76 percent the week before. Subsoil condition is rated 9 percent very short, 23 percent short, 65 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Small grains remain in mostly good to excellent condition, with development in the boot stage rated ahead of the five-year averages, while the percent of crop headed is behind average. Barley, oats and spring wheat are rated at 1 percent, 4 percent and 1 percent headed, respectively. Winter wheat is rated at 93 percent in the boot stage, well ahead of last year's 71 percent. Winter wheat headed is rated at 50 percent, ahead of last year's 33 percent. Corn and soybeans are in good to excellent condition, with corn planting virtually complete and soybean planting 91 percent completed. Corn has an average height of 5 inches, comparable to an average of 6 inches, and 36 percent of the corn has been cultivated or sprayed once, versus 26 percent a year ago. Soybeans, at 57 percent emerged, are 8 points behind the five-year average. Sorghum is at 63 percent planted and sunflower at 48 percent planted.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    As moisture levels improved last week, range and pasture conditions improved as well. Range and pasture are rated at 50 percent good to excellent, compared to the previous week's 46 percent. Livestock are also in good to excellent condition. Cattle being moved to pasture have reached 94 percent, in line with the five-year average. Cutting alfalfa continued through the scattered showers of last week, as the first cutting of alfalfa reached 27 percent completion, ahead of last year and the five-year average. The livestock feed and water supply comparison table was added to show current conditions.

           FEED AND WATER SUPPLIES COMPARISON
                  AS OF June 8, 2003 

              FEED             STOCK WATER 
            SUPPLIES            SUPPLIES 
         This  Last 5-Yr.    This  Last  5-Yr.
RATING   Year  Year  Ave.    Year  Year   Ave.

                       Percent
Very 
 Short      4    12     4      8     15    4
Short      25    33    11     29     27    9
Adeq.      69    55    75     62     57   72
Surplus     2     0    10      1      1   15


           SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
                  AS OF June 8, 2003 

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

                       Percent
Very 
 Short      2     3    28      9      9    21
Short      18    21    35     23     25    37
Adeq.      75    74    36     65     64    40
Surplus     5     2     1      3      2     2




           CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
                  AS OF June 8, 2003 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Winter Wheat   1       6     28      47     18
Winter Rye     0       0     39      48     13
Spring Wheat   0       1     24      58     17
Barley         0       1     20      72      7
Oats           1       1     20      66     12
Corn           0       2     17      70     11
Alfalfa        1       5     34      48     12
Soybeans       0       1     21      70      8
Cattle         0       1     20      62     17
Sheep          0       1     19      67     13
Range &                                       
   Pasture     3      13     34      43      7




                   CROP PROGRESS 
               AS OF June 8, 2003  1/
                                                      
                                                                       
                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Barley        
 boot                34      6     18      24
 headed               1      0      3       6
Spring wheat 
 boot                44     31     14      32
 headed               1      0      1       7 
Oats        
 boot                41      8     23      29
 headed               4      0      3       9
Corn        
 planted             99     96    100      98
 emerged             87     71     87      88
 ave. height (in.)    5      3      6       6
 1st cult or sprayed 36     24     26      21
Sorghum     
 seeded              63     43     69      62
Soybeans    
 planted             91     79     95      90
 emerged             57     23     69      65
Sunflower   
 seeded              48     19     69      65
Winter wheat
 boot                93     86     71      83
 headed              50     26     33      45
Winter rye  
 boot                90     68     62      80
 headed              20      7     25      47
Alfalfa     
 1st cutting         27     15     18      26
Other hay   
 cut                  6      3      1       5        


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



            TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, AND GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                        WEEK ENDING June 8, 2003
                                     
             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       56  -7  69  42| 0.76   9.54   5.61  +1.76  -0.21|   337    -6
Buffalo     55  -7  71  42| 1.19   5.63   3.51  -0.30  -1.24|   364   +52
Dupree      58  -7  70  42| 0.34   6.01   3.72  -1.46  -2.06|   390   -11
Mc Intosh   56  -8  69  40| 1.09   6.94   5.84  +0.15  +0.52|   312   -54
Newell      53  -9  70  40| 0.94   6.64   4.22  +0.01  -0.91|   333    +5
Timber Lake 56  -8  68  42| 0.96   6.97   4.86  -0.86  -1.01|   328   -63
Aberdeen    59  -6  70  47| 1.01   6.20   5.20  -1.13  +0.05|   359   -55
Eureka      59  -5  71  47| 1.14   9.19   8.65  +2.52  +3.56|   367   +12
Faulkton    58  -6  70  46| 1.15   9.98   7.76  +2.22  +2.10|   370   -10
Mobridge    58  -6  72  45| 1.09   6.87   6.25  -0.53  +0.75|   400    +0
Roscoe      56  -8  71  45| 1.55  11.61   9.93  +3.86  +4.10|   268  -123
Britton     59  -6  75  48| 1.22   7.93   7.44  +0.75  +1.97|   419   -15
Clear Lake  57  -8  71  41| 1.71   8.86   6.73  -0.24  +0.54|   308  -107
Sisseton    59  -7  70  45| 2.12   8.44   8.12  +0.03  +2.14|   367   -86
Webster     57  -7  70  46| 1.12   7.01   5.99  -0.83  +0.44|   338   -70
Watertown   57  -8  72  40| 1.85   7.30   6.32  -1.37  +0.18|   334   -66
Faith       57  -7  69  42| 0.34   4.22   3.30  -3.38  -2.49|   367   -26
Milesville  59  -7  71  43| 0.76   7.50   4.51  -0.50  -1.57|   404   -39
Long Valley 57  -8  71  41| 0.32   9.64   7.00  +1.98  +1.21|   425    -1
Philip      58  -8  72  43| 0.31   6.82   5.18  -0.14  -0.14|   444    -8
Rapid City  55  -8  74  40| 0.77   5.78   4.18  -1.56  -1.22|   374   +52
Spearfish   55  -7  73  39| 2.57  11.44   7.34  +0.97  -0.34|   367   +68
Chamberlain 58  -9  73  45| 0.49   9.50   7.46  +1.98  +1.71|   409  -105
Highmore    58  -7  70  48| 0.83   7.31   6.07  -0.65  +0.18|   421   -17
Huron       58  -7  72  44| 0.82   6.23   5.03  -2.36  -0.81|   434    -3
Onida       58  -8  70  47| 0.66   9.85   7.73  +2.04  +2.25|   361   -97
Pierre      59  -7  72  46| 0.15   7.55   6.41  -0.37  +0.53|   445   -15
Brookings   57  -7  72  40| 1.13   6.90   6.09  -1.17  +0.00|   309   -44
Madison     57  -8  71  43| 0.67   7.27   6.26  -2.12  -0.02|   327   -81
Mitchell    58 -10  72  45| 1.08   9.34   7.23  +0.13  +0.65|   362  -153
Sioux Falls 59  -7  76  44| 0.91   8.41   7.26  -0.83  +0.81|   406   -55
Custer      47  -9  65  30| 0.82   7.88   4.85  +0.22  -0.93|   143   -10
Hot Springs 55  -9  72  36| 1.17   9.62   6.56  +2.88  +1.31|   352   -55
Oelrichs    56  -8  76  39| 1.57   9.21   6.68  +1.56  +0.95|   384   -29
Porcupine   55 -10  75  37| 0.70   8.67   5.44  +1.90  +0.15|   372   -13
Murdo       57  -8  72  44| 0.42   8.99   6.77  +0.93  +0.97|   420    +6
Winner      59  -9  72  47| 0.56   9.14   7.11  -1.12  -0.32|   559   -13
Armour      59  -9  74  48| 0.52   8.44   7.08  -0.99  +0.53|   496   -60
Centerville 59  -8  74  48| 0.81   8.35   6.53  -1.25  -0.29|   443   -59
Marion      58  -8  73  45| 1.16   9.26   7.53  -0.40  +0.86|   360  -107
Pickstown   59  -9  73  45| 0.67   9.40   7.53  +0.57  +1.19|   473   -34
Vermillion  60  -9  77  48| 1.01   9.71   6.59  +0.00  -0.49|   543   -87
Yankton     58  -9  74  48| 1.42  10.80   7.62  +1.51  +0.84|   437   -85


Source: National Weather Service, provided by AWIS, Inc.
Growing Degree Day values calculated using standard corn formula with no temperature caps.