Released: July 19, 2004 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending July 18, 2004 SD-CW2904 Volume 53 Issue 29

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Much warmer weather across the state advanced crop progress considerably last week, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. However, maturity ratings for ripening in small grains remain well behind last year. Producers used the 5.6 days reported suitable for fieldwork to begin winter wheat harvest, wrap up weed control in corn and soybeans, and continue haying. This report is based on information from county extension educators, farm service agency county directors, and other reporters across the state.

WEATHER INFORMATION:   More typical summer weather returned to the state last week after several weeks of below-normal temperatures. Growing degree day accumulation improved as daytime highs reached well into the 80's across the state, while nighttime lows remained generally in the upper 50's. The warm, humid weather triggered thunderstorms across the central and east last week. Brookings recorded the week's precipitation high of 2.61 inches.

SOIL CONDITION:    Seventy-three percent of the state's topsoil has adequate moisture, which is unchanged from the previous week. Subsoil moisture conditions improved from 59 to 67 percent adequate. However, despite the improvements, many reporters in areas rated adequate indicate that conditions are beginning to turn dry and a rain will be needed soon.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Field crop conditions remain generally good to excellent for the state, although crop maturity is well behind previous years. Forty-three percent of the winter wheat is rated ripe compared to 78 percent last year. Consequently, harvest is progressing slowly, at 12 percent harvested, compared to 39 percent last year. The spring-seeded small grains are slow in ripening, as well. Soybeans are rated predominantly good to excellent and are blooming slightly ahead of the five-year average. Some soybean producers expressed concerns over aphids and leaf beetles. The corn crop is rated 84 percent good to excellent, with 9 percent tasseled. Flea beetles are a concern in sunflower, where two percent of the crop is blooming.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Cattle and sheep remain in predominately good to excellent condition, while range and pasture conditions are mostly fair to good. The first cutting alfalfa harvest is nearly complete, while 34 percent of the second cutting is harvested. Other hay harvested made good progress, with sixty-three percent harvested, compared to the five-year average of 69 percent. Feed supplies are rated 72 percent adequate.

         FEED AND WATER SUPPLIES COMPARISON
                 AS OF July 18, 2004 

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

                       Percent
Very
 Short      8     4     8     15     16   13
Short      12    15    14     21     23   13
Adeq.      72    77    52     62     55   48
Surplus     8     4     6      2      6    6
 

         SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
                  AS OF July 18, 2004 

               TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
         This   Last  Last  This   Last  Last
RATING   Week   Week  Year  Week   Week  Year
                       Percent
Very 
 Short      8     5     9     10     15    13
Short      15    18    28     20     23    26
Adeq.      73    73    55     67     59    53
Surplus     4     4     8      3      3     8

             

           CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
                   AS OF July 18, 2004 

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL
                          Percent
Winter Wheat  13      15     38      28      6
Spring Wheat   4       5     17      51     23
Barley        17       3     13      56     11
Oats           7       6     20      50     17
Corn           0       2     14      64     20
Soybeans       0       2     19      62     17
Sorghum        1       3     27      66      3
Sunflower      0       5     39      47      9
Alfalfa        8       8     23      45     16
Cattle         0       3     14      61     22
Sheep          0       8     10      58     24
Range &                                        
  Pasture      8      12     32     38     10  

          CROP PROGRESS AS OF July 18, 2004  1/
                                                      
                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Barley        
 headed             100     93     99      98
 turning color       56     22     74      63
 ripe                 2      0     15      20
 harvested            0     NA      2       3
Spring wheat 
 turning color       68     29     76      73
 ripe                 5      0     11      19
 harvested            0     NA      1       4
Oats        
 headed              99     94     99      98
 turning color       56     26     73      70
 ripe                 8      1     26      30
 harvested            1      0      7      11
Corn        
 ave. height (in.)   52     39     54      55
 2nd cult or sprayed 94     82     87      82
 tasseling            9      1     21      24
 silked               1      0      4       9
Sorghum     
 headed               5      4     21      13
Soybeans    
 blooming            50     27     54      49
 setting pods         2      0      6      11
Sunflower   
 blooming             2      0      3       4
Winter wheat
 turning color       98     92     99      96
 ripe                43     12     78      73
 harvested           12      2     39      36
Alfalfa     
 1st cutting         93     85    100      98
 2nd cutting         34     21     51      45
Other hay   
 cut                 63     48     80      69

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

  
   

                                                     
            TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, AND GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                        WEEK ENDING July 18, 2004
                                     
             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       76  +4 100  56| 0.00   8.45   6.47  -2.94  -2.90|  1017   -97
Buffalo     76  +5  96  58| 0.21   5.07   4.66  -4.12  -3.31|  1009   -44
Dupree      75  +1 102  55| 0.17  10.71   9.16  -0.47  -0.28|  1105  -133
McIntosh    75  +3 103  56| 0.26   7.93   6.50  -2.65  -2.56|  1005  -154
Newell      76  +3  97  57| 0.13   9.28   7.82  -0.68  -0.60|   982  -121
Timber Lake 74  +1 100  57| 0.28   8.87   6.68  -2.58  -2.76|  1032  -166
Aberdeen    72  -2  87  55| 0.64  14.11  11.62  +2.63  +2.38|  1000  -223
Eureka      74  +3  95  57| 0.43   9.86   8.47  -0.70  -0.46|  1068   -53
Faulkton    73  -2  91  56| 1.16  15.93  13.34  +4.37  +3.94|  1024  -168
Mobridge    75  +1  91  55| 0.41   8.26   7.23  -2.70  -1.77|  1073  -159
Roscoe      72  -2  87  57| 1.25  14.53  11.43  +2.42  +1.30|   860  -331
Britton     72  -2  87  56| 0.42  13.38  11.84  +1.85  +2.06|  1122  -128
Clear Lake  71  -2  84  57| 0.06  13.52  11.55  -0.51  +0.49|   898  -325
Sisseton    72  -3  86  56| 0.12  12.25  10.55  -0.11  +0.68|  1008  -284
Webster     72  -1  87  60| 0.32  12.95  10.02  +0.64  +0.05|   952  -256
Watertown   71  -2  86  54| 0.21  12.50  11.13  -0.73  +0.49|   968  -246
Faith       75  +0  90  57| 0.01  11.31  10.59  +0.01  +1.15|  1028  -199
Milesville  77  +3 102  62| 0.15  12.18  10.19  +0.59  +0.57|  1201  -124
Long Valley 79  +5 100  62| 0.60   8.65   6.67  -3.30  -3.35|  1323   +22
Philip      79  +3 100  64| 0.84   7.64   6.83  -3.02  -2.15|  1292   -67
RapidCity   77  +5  95  60| 0.02   8.50   6.56  -2.40  -2.35|  1123   +38
Spearfish   77  +6 103  58| 0.00   9.87   7.45  -4.90  -4.46|  1087   +56
Chamberlain 77  +0  97  59| 0.13  13.37  10.15  +2.13  +0.73|  1254  -215
Highmore    75  +1  96  60| 0.45  13.96  11.69  +1.67  +1.54|  1207  -101
Huron       74  -1  90  55| 0.35  16.02  12.86  +3.21  +2.86|  1214   -99
Onida       76  +1  99  58| 0.21  10.23   7.49  -1.45  -1.80|  1181  -171
Pierre      77  +2  94  59| 0.15   9.56   7.20  -2.71  -2.98|  1281   -97
Brookings   72  +1  86  56| 2.61  16.64  14.83  +3.14  +3.37|   976  -134
Madison     71  -2  86  57| 0.81  15.61  13.71  +1.57  +2.85|  1053  -161
Mitchell    74  -3  90  58| 0.81  17.63  14.67  +4.05  +3.79|  1130  -314
SiouxFalls  74  -2  90  58| 0.24  20.38  16.81  +6.92  +6.21|  1242  -100
Custer      70  +4  89  54| 0.23   6.23   4.75  -5.94  -5.50|   611   -68
HotSprings  77  +3  99  56| 0.30   6.02   3.86  -4.45  -5.08|  1190   -44
Oelrichs    79  +5 102  58| 0.39   5.76   3.92  -5.45  -5.32|  1224   -49
Porcupine   79  +5 102  59| 0.12   7.15   4.53  -3.53  -4.63|  1176   -69
Murdo       78  +3  96  63| 0.03   9.47   7.02  -2.58  -2.71|  1194  -102
Winner      80  +3 101  62| 0.00  15.00  11.42  -0.12  -0.81|  1503   -55
Armour      77  +1  93  59| 0.00  14.07  10.70  -0.29  -0.71|  1381  -121
Centerville 74  -1  93  58| 0.24  15.48  11.25  +0.59  -0.80|  1260  -131
Marion      73  -2  88  58| 0.87  19.70  16.30  +5.37  +5.04|  1137  -209
Pickstown   77  +2  97  58| 0.22  12.42   9.80  -1.20  -1.26|  1311  -131
Vermillion  75  -2  91  57| 0.75  19.72  14.91  +5.11  +2.99|  1508  -101
Yankton     75  +0  92  59| 0.38  18.42  13.17  +4.18  +1.49|  1316  -130

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