Released: August 18, 2003 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending August 17, 2003 SD-CW3303 Volume 52 Issue 33

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Farmers and ranchers noticed their crop and livestock conditions decline due to the dry weather and above normal temperatures, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major farm activities included cutting and baling hay, harvesting small grains, fall planting field preparations, spraying, fixing fences, working summer fallow, and caring for livestock. Statewide, there were 6.6 days reported 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:   Of the 43 reporting weather stations, only one received a small trace of rain this past week. For the state, we averaged approximately 6 degrees above normal. Temperatures ranged from 2 to 14 degrees above normal. Buffalo, at 105 degrees, had the high for the week, while Custer had the low of 51 degrees.

SOIL CONDITION:    With virtually no rain across the state, topsoil moisture and subsoil moisture decreased last week. Topsoil is currently rated at 29 percent very short, 42 percent short, and 29 percent adequate. Subsoil moisture is rated 28 percent very short, 37 percent short, 34 percent adequate, and 1 percent surplus.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Small grain harvest is nearing completion with barley 93 percent, oats 99 percent, and spring wheat 96 percent harvested; all ahead of the five-year average progress. In general, most of the row crop conditions decreased during last week. Corn is completely tasseled, 97 percent silked, 42 percent in dough, 6 percent dent, and 2 percent rated mature. Corn tasseled and silked are in line with the five-year average, while the rest of the development is behind average. Soybeans blooming is complete, with 90 percent setting pods and 4 percent dropping leaves. Soybeans setting pods is slightly ahead of last year and the five-year average. Sorghum is 95 percent headed, up 11 points from last year, and 25 percent turning color, 5 points behind last year. Sunflower are 83 percent in bloom, up 24 points from last week, with 16 percent of the ray flowers dry and 7 percent bracts yellow. Corn harvested for silage is at 6 percent complete and sorghum silage harvested is 5 percent complete.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    With above normal temperatures and dry conditions, range and pasture conditions declined from a week earlier. Pastures rated fair to poor increased 12 points from the previous week to 62 points. Cattle conditions decreased slightly, while sheep conditions moved more into good to fair range. Feed supplies remained comparable to last week, but stock water supplies decreased from the previous week. Alfalfa is rated at 37 percent good to excellent, with second cutting alfalfa 95 percent harvested and third cutting 24 percent complete. Other hay is 96 percent harvested.

        SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
               AS OF August 17, 2003 

TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
         This   Last  Last  This   Last  Last
RATING    Week   Week  Year  Week   Week  Year
                       Percent
Very 
 Short     29    23    29     28     22    42
Short      42    33    35     37     32    38
Adeq.      29    43    35     34     45    20
Surplus     0     1     1      1      1     0

 



           CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
                  AS OF August 17, 2003 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Corn           5      12     21      45     17
Alfalfa       10      17     36      32      5
Sorghum       11      15     30      40      4
Soybeans       3       7     25      51     14
Sunflower     10      12     47      29      2
Cattle         1       4     28      55     12
Sheep          0       2     22      63     13
Range &                                       
   Pasture    12      25     37      23      3



                   CROP PROGRESS 
               AS OF August 17, 2003  1/
                                                      
                                                                       
                  This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Barley        
 ripe               100     95    100      98
 harvested           93     73     95      90 
Spring wheat 
 ripe               100     98    100      99
 harvested           96     82     98      91 
Oats        
 ripe               100     99    100      99
 harvested           99     90     98      94
Corn        
 tasseling          100     98    100     100
 silked              97     90     96      97
 dough               42     18     59      62
 dented               6      0     20      18
 mature               2      0      3       2
 silage harvested     6      1     10       3
Sorghum     
 headed              95     84     71      74
 coloring            25     16     30      27
 silage harvested     5      1     13       5 
Soybeans    
 blooming           100     96    100      98
 setting pods        90     70     89      84
 dropping leaves      4      3      6       5
Sunflower   
 blooming            83     59     84      85
 ray flowers dry     16      2     31      29
 bracts yellow        7      0     17      18
Winter wheat
 seeded               0      0      0       1
Winter rye  
 harvested          100     98     99      97
Alfalfa     
 2nd cutting         95     91     88      88
 3rd cutting         24     17     43      34
Other hay   
 cut                 96     94     95      89


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



            TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, AND GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                        WEEK ENDING August 17, 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       82 +11 101  60| 0.00  12.91   8.98  -0.03  -2.00|  1936  +165
Buffalo     84 +14 105  64| 0.00   6.79   4.67  -3.64  -4.58|  2035  +352
Dupree      81  +9 103  57| 0.00   9.60   7.31  -3.17  -3.77|  2077  +129
Mc Intosh   80  +8 102  56| 0.00  10.90   9.80  -1.42  -1.05|  1831    +3
Newell      80  +9 100  59| 0.00   8.87   6.45  -2.50  -3.42|  1971  +205
Timber Lake 80  +9 102  59| 0.00  11.00   8.89  -2.32  -2.47|  1908   +40
Aberdeen    75  +4  93  59| 0.00  15.32  14.32  +1.69  +2.87|  1815   -74
Eureka      79  +9 101  59| 0.00  15.71  15.17  +3.12  +4.16|  1951  +193
Faulkton    77  +7 100  54| 0.00  15.92  13.70  +2.19  +2.07|  1905   +57
Mobridge    80  +9 101  59| 0.00  10.35   9.73  -2.35  -1.07|  2025  +108
Roscoe      74  +4  97  57| 0.00  15.72  14.04  +1.54  +1.78|  1674  -173
Britton     77  +6  96  60| 0.00  17.64  17.15  +4.04  +5.26|  2005   +82
Clear Lake  74  +4  90  59| 0.00  13.94  11.81  -3.17  -2.39|  1697  -163
Sisseton    75  +4  94  60| 0.00  15.81  15.49  +0.92  +3.03|  1830  -138
Webster     76  +6  96  61| 0.00  17.22  16.20  +2.03  +3.30|  1800   -53
Watertown   74  +3  92  56| 0.01  13.24  12.26  -2.61  -1.06|  1752  -112
Faith       82  +9 102  57| 0.00   6.77   5.85  -6.12  -5.23|  2074  +139
Milesville  82  +9 104  58| 0.00   9.93   6.94  -3.62  -4.69|  2179  +115
Long Valley 78  +5  99  57| 0.00  15.17  12.53  +1.21  +0.44|  2156  +124
Philip      82  +7 103  56| 0.00   8.98   7.34  -3.40  -3.40|  2250  +128
Rapid City  80  +9 100  58| 0.00   8.19   6.59  -4.39  -4.05|  2041  +300
Spearfish   81 +11 101  59| 0.00  14.73  10.63  -1.60  -2.91|  2010  +345
Chamberlain 78  +3 101  59| 0.00  16.83  14.79  +3.48  +3.21|  2068  -174
Highmore    79  +6 103  59| 0.00  13.22  11.98  -1.50  -0.67|  2108   +83
Huron       77  +5  99  59| 0.00  12.22  11.02  -2.64  -1.09|  2066   +49
Onida       80  +6 105  57| 0.00  14.45  12.33  +0.59  +0.80|  2022   -65
Pierre      79  +5 102  55| 0.00  10.55   9.41  -3.57  -2.67|  2154   +13
Brookings   72  +4  94  52| 0.00  13.34  12.53  -2.83  -1.66|  1669   -27
Madison     73  +4  96  56| 0.00  13.00  11.99  -3.81  -1.71|  1772   -75
Mitchell    75  +2  96  59| 0.00  17.13  15.02  +1.52  +2.04|  1903  -268
Sioux Falls 75  +4  97  56| 0.00  13.12  11.97  -2.78  -1.14|  1968   -68
Custer      71  +6  88  51| 0.00  14.05  11.02  -0.50  -1.65|  1237   +88
Hot Springs 77  +5  96  55| 0.00  13.32  10.26  +1.17  -0.40|  1961   +37
Oelrichs    78  +5  97  58| 0.00  12.70  10.17  -0.17  -0.78|  2026   +19
Porcupine   79  +7  99  54| 0.00  10.66   7.43  -1.72  -3.47|  2007   +53
Murdo       79  +7  99  62| 0.00  11.11   8.89  -2.77  -2.73|  2137  +123
Winner      80  +5 101  60| 0.00  14.39  12.36  -3.34  -2.54|  2379   +34
Armour      77  +4 101  57| 0.00  18.98  17.62  +2.39  +3.91|  2154   -94
Centerville 74  +4  95  57| 0.00  18.80  16.98  +1.05  +2.01|  1999   -61
Marion      74  +3  95  58| 0.00  17.38  15.65  +0.67  +1.93|  1866  -155
Pickstown   78  +4 100  60| 0.00  14.53  12.66  -1.18  -0.56|  2138   -55
Vermillion  76  +2  97  58| 0.00  15.95  12.83  -1.56  -2.05|  2215  -132
Yankton     74  +2  98  57| 0.00  21.30  18.12  +4.42  +3.75|  2027  -132

 

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