Released: September 27, 2004 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending September 26, 2004 SD-CW3904 Volume 53 Issue 39

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Wet weather last week improved soil moisture levels; however, it has also delayed harvest for several farmers across the state, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. While row crop development remains behind normal, winter wheat development has been aided by recent rains. Major farm activities included harvesting silage, cutting hay, caring for livestock, and preparing for fall harvest. Statewide, 2.8 days were 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 were average for much of the state last week, with precipitation received at all of the forty-three reporting weather stations. Mobridge, at 93 degrees, had the highest temperature for the week; while Custer, at 35 degrees, had the low for the week. Clear Lake received the most precipitation last week, with 5.23 inches reported.

SOIL CONDITION:    Last week's rains helped to significantly improve topsoil moisture levels. Currently topsoil moisture is rated at 80 percent adequate to surplus, compared to the previous week's 67 percent. Subsoil moisture is rated at 63 percent adequate to surplus which shows improvement over the previous week's 53 percent and last year's 25 percent.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    Crops reaching maturity were slowed by last week's wet weather, with row crop harvest starting behind normal. The corn crop is only 88 percent dented and 29 percent mature, well behind last year's 99 percent dent and 73 percent mature. Soybean development is also behind with only 20 percent mature, compared to last year's 61 percent. With maturity continuing to lag behind, only one percent of both the corn and soybean crops are harvested, well behind the five-year averages of 8 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Silage harvest continues, with corn silage 56 percent and sorghum silage 53 percent harvested. Sorghum grain development continues with the crop 4 percent harvested. Sunflower are rated at 18 percent mature with 1 percent harvested, well behind last year's 12 percent harvested. Winter wheat development is similar to last year, with 49 percent seeded and 17 percent emerged.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Many farmers and ranchers reported that last week's rains were beneficial to range and pastures, with current condition rated at 63 percent fair to excellent. Cattle and sheep are in mostly good to excellent condition. Alfalfa harvest was delayed due to last week's wet weather, with third cutting harvest 82 percent complete.

         FEED AND WATER SUPPLIES COMPARISON
                 AS OF September 26, 2004 

       FEED SUPPLIES      STOCK WATER
         This  Last 5-Yr.   This  Last  5-Yr.
RATING   Week  Year  Ave.   Week  Year   Ave.
                       Percent
Very 
 Short     12     8     8     22     35   19
Short      23    28    20     25     28   21
Adeq.      61    61    49     50     36   38
Surplus     4     3     3      3      1    2
 

         SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
                  AS OF September 26, 2004 

               TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
         This   Last  Last  This   Last  Last
RATING   Week   Week  Year  Week   Week  Year
                       Percent
Very 
 Short      7    12    29     15     21    43
Short      13    21    37     22     26    32
Adeq.      69    62    33     59     51    25
Surplus    11     5     1      4      2     0

             

           CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
               AS OF September 26, 2004 
                    
ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL
                         Percent    
Corn           4       8     25      46     17
Soybeans       3       7     24      53     13
Sorghum       12      20     37      29      2
Sunflower     11      12     36      36      5
Alfalfa       14      12     28      37      9
Cattle         0       2     15      69     14
Sheep          0       5     13      63     19
Range &                                        
Pasture       15      22     31      27      5 
                     



          CROP PROGRESS AS OF September 26, 2004  1/
                                                      
                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Corn        
 dented              88     75     99      99
 mature              29     19     73      69
 grain harvested      1      0      8       8
 silage harvested    56     42     91      87
Sorghum     
 coloring            93     84     99      97
 mature              36     28     62      57
 grain harvested      4      3     13      12
 silage harvested    53     49     89      66
Soybeans    
 dropping leaves     82     60     94      89
 mature              20     11     61      57
 harvested            1      0     17      14
Sunflower   
 ray flowers dry     92     87     95      97
 bracts yellow       76     67     81      85
 mature              18      6     49      47
 harvested            1      0     12       9
Winter wheat
 seeded              49     39     59      56
 emerged             17      6     14      18
Alfalfa     
 3rd cutting         82     79     88      81        



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



            TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, AND GROWING DEGREE DAYS
                        WEEK ENDING September 26, 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       58  +3  84  40| 0.35  11.51   9.53  -3.27  -3.23|  2197  -120
Buffalo     56  +2  82  43| 0.19   8.48   8.07  -3.63  -2.82|  2165   -33
Dupree      59  +2  83  42| 1.43  16.09  14.54  +1.57  +1.76|  2323  -228
Mc Intosh   59  +4  85  38| 1.21  12.25  10.82  -2.24  -2.15|  2162  -196
Newell      56  -1  81  40| 0.18  10.98   9.52  -2.04  -1.96|  2101  -203
Timber Lake 57  +1  85  39| 2.01  13.70  11.51  -1.70  -1.88|  2185  -222
Aberdeen    60  +4  91  36| 1.64  19.39  16.90  +3.11  +2.86|  2088  -337
Eureka      60  +5  85  41| 1.71  14.54  13.15  -0.26  -0.02|  2262    -2
Faulkton    59  +3  91  41| 2.20  23.89  21.30  +7.66  +7.23|  2143  -241
Mobridge    60  +4  93  38| 1.72  12.54  11.51  -2.20  -1.27|  2319  -160
Roscoe      58  +3  89  42| 2.26  20.85  17.75  +4.39  +3.27|  1855  -528
Britton     62  +6  82  41| 1.93  18.98  17.44  +2.65  +2.86|  2331  -149
Clear Lake  59  +3  86  42| 5.23  29.23  27.26  +8.77  +9.77|  1903  -491
Sisseton    62  +5  92  44| 2.51  19.84  18.14  +1.88  +2.67|  2117  -418
Webster     58  +3  79  45| 1.77  20.39  17.46  +2.19  +1.60|  2024  -345
Watertown   60  +4  87  41| 2.89  20.82  19.45  +2.00  +3.22|  2089  -309
Faith       57  -2  87  44| 1.06  16.12  15.40  +1.57  +2.71|  2192  -346
Milesville  59  +1  84  45| 1.95  18.46  16.47  +2.80  +2.78|  2482  -224
Long Valley 59  -1  84  42| 1.81  14.60  12.62  -1.25  -1.30|  2663   -21
Philip      60  +0  91  43| 1.71  13.14  12.33  -0.88  -0.01|  2617  -171
Rapid City  57  +1  87  44| 0.14  11.83   9.89  -2.56  -2.51|  2369   +73
Spearfish   59  +4  84  41| 0.16  13.17  10.75  -5.53  -5.09|  2295  +108
Chamberlain 60  +0  92  42| 2.33  20.37  17.15  +5.01  +3.61|  2637  -306
Highmore    58  -1  86  41| 2.23  21.39  19.12  +4.20  +4.07|  2529  -123
Huron       61  +5  92  40| 1.96  24.56  21.40  +7.29  +6.94|  2497  -103
Onida       60  +2  86  39| 2.03  16.80  14.06  +0.83  +0.48|  2491  -235
Pierre      60  +2  92  41| 2.51  16.21  13.85  -0.02  -0.29|  2678  -121
Brookings   60  +5  86  37| 4.07  24.18  22.37  +4.33  +4.56|  1996  -171
Madison     60  +4  87  38| 4.56  26.14  24.24  +5.91  +7.19|  2110  -269
Mitchell    60  +2  89  41| 2.57  27.66  24.70  +8.83  +8.57|  2346  -461
Sioux Falls 64  +7  88  41| 1.56  29.14  25.57  +9.11  +8.40|  2506  -111
Custer      50  -3  77  35| 0.62  10.99   9.51  -5.81  -5.37|  1356  -157
Hot Springs 57  -2  84  40| 0.50  10.66   8.50  -3.28  -3.91|  2374  -164
Oelrichs    56  -4  85  39| 0.72  10.40   8.56  -4.30  -4.17|  2491  -167
Porcupine   58  +1  89  42| 0.56  12.89  10.27  -1.09  -2.19|  2346  -198
Murdo       58  -1  87  43| 2.26  15.05  12.60  -0.56  -0.69|  2527  -104
Winner      61  +0  87  44| 2.31  20.11  16.53  -0.46  -1.15|  3020   -52
Armour      62  +2  84  42| 1.50  21.52  18.15  +1.80  +1.38|  2782  -136
Centerville 64  +7  87  43| 0.91  25.45  21.22  +4.03  +2.64|  2507  -132
Marion      62  +5  88  42| 2.40  30.25  26.85  +9.53  +9.20|  2322  -263
Pickstown   61  +2  91  42| 2.04  18.78  16.19  -0.27  -0.30|  2718  -139
Vermillion  65  +5  90  42| 0.83  26.06  21.25  +5.08  +2.96|  2879  -160
Yankton     63  +4  91  43| 2.10  28.77  23.52  +8.59  +5.90|  2629  -163

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