Released: October 12, 2004 -- 3:00 pm CST For Week ending October 10, 2004 SD-CW4104 Volume 53 Issue 41

AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY:    Warm weather has helped soybean harvest to move into full swing, with some farmers postponing corn harvest, allowing the crop to dry in the field and reach final maturity, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Harvest advancement remains behind normal, with winter wheat development aided by recent rains. Major farm activities included preparing for fall harvest, combining soybeans and corn, harvesting silage, cutting hay, fall tillage, planting fall crops, fixing fence, and caring for livestock. Statewide, 5.9 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 ranged from 1 to 10 degrees above normal for the state last week. Spearfish, at 85 degrees, had the high temperature for the week, while both Aberdeen and Clear Lake had the low, at 23 degrees. Precipitation was scattered, with Centerville reporting the most precipitation received, at 0.27 inch.

SOIL CONDITION:    With warm, dry weather predominant across much of the state last week, topsoil and subsoil moisture levels remained similar to the previous week. Topsoil moisture is currently rated at 80 percent adequate to surplus, and subsoil moisture is rated at 65 percent adequate to surplus. Soil temperatures were fairly close to normal last week, with the average soil temperature at 56.5 degrees.

FIELD CROPS REPORT:    With crops slow to reach maturity this year, harvest progress has also fallen behind average. The corn crop is only 83 percent mature and 9 percent harvested, well behind last year's 98 percent mature and 28 percent harvested. The sorghum crop is 85 percent mature. Sorghum harvest advanced 18 percentage points last week, with harvest now 23 percent complete, behind the 41 percent normally harvested. Significant advancements were also made on silage harvest, with corn silage 93 percent harvested and sorghum silage 87 percent harvested. Soybean development advanced to 87 percent mature, with 43 percent harvested, behind the five-year average of 54 percent harvested. Sunflower development remains behind normal with only 65 percent of the crop mature and 9 percent harvested, behind the five-year averages of 85 percent mature and 34 percent harvested. Winter wheat emergence, aided by last week's warm weather, advanced to 55 percent, equaling the five-year average.

LIVESTOCK, PASTURE, AND RANGE REPORT:    Last week's weather did little to improve range and pasture conditions across the state. Range and pasture are rated 64 percent fair to excellent, down 6 percentage points from the previous week. Cattle and sheep remain in mostly good to excellent condition. The harvest of third cutting alfalfa nears completion, with harvest 92 percent complete.

                                     
          SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON
                 AS OF OCTOBER 10, 2004 
               TOPSOIL         SUBSOIL
         This   Last  Last  This   Last  Last
RATING   Week   Week  Year  Week   Week  Year
                       Percent
Very 
 Short      7     5    37     17     14    45
Short      13    15    35     18     19    34
Adeq.      74    72    28     63     64    21
Surplus     6     8     0      2      3     0

                    

             CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS
                 AS OF OCTOBER 10, 2004 
ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL
                          Percent
Corn          4       6     27      48     15
Soybeans       2       9     25      52     12
Sorghum        8      18     42      29      3
Sunflower      9      10     40      38      3
Alfalfa       11      14     35      32      8
Cattle         0       3     17      65     15
Sheep          0       7     18      58     17
Range &                                        
Pasture       13      23     34      26      4
     
                         
       CROP PROGRESS AS OF OCTOBER 10, 2004  1/ 
                                                                                        

                    This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM                Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
                         Percent
Corn        
 mature              83     52     98      95
 grain harvested      9      3     28      25
 silage harvested    93     77     99      98
Sorghum     
 mature              85     55     96      90
 grain harvested     23      5     59      41
 silage harvested    87     64     99      85
Soybeans    
 mature              87     54     98      95
 harvested           43     10     69      54
Sunflower   
 bracts yellow       94     85     94      97
 mature              65     31     86      85
 harvested            9      4     45      34
Winter wheat
 seeded              87     68     90      88
 emerged             55     34     45      55
Alfalfa     
 3rd cutting         92     88     93      92

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



SOIL TEMPERATURES WEEK ENDING OCT. 10, 2004
                (4-inch Depth)

LOCATION      TEMP             LOCATION   TEMP

Beresford      57              Gettysburg   57
Brookings      52              Nisland      60
Caputa         56              Pierre       59
Chamberlain    59              Redfield     54
Cottonwood     58              Watertown    52




	        TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION
                 WEEK ENDING October 10, 2004
                                     
             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       58  +7  81  31| 0.00  11.86   9.88  -3.48  -3.44
Buffalo     60 +10  84  32| 0.00   8.48   8.07  -4.15  -3.34
Dupree      58  +6  80  26| 0.00  16.09  14.54  +1.01  +1.20
Mc Intosh   58  +7  80  25| 0.00  12.25  10.82  -2.80  -2.71
Newell      57  +7  82  35| 0.00  10.80   9.34  -2.78  -2.70
Timber Lake 57  +6  78  26| 0.00  13.70  11.51  -2.26  -2.44
Aberdeen    56  +6  79  23| 0.00  19.45  16.96  +2.53  +2.28
Eureka      58  +8  80  24| 0.00  14.65  13.26  -0.71  -0.47
Faulkton    55  +4  78  25| 0.00  23.90  21.31  +7.01  +6.58
Mobridge    59  +7  81  26| 0.00  12.54  11.51  -2.76  -1.83
Roscoe      54  +3  80  25| 0.00  20.85  17.75  +3.83  +2.71
Britton     58  +7  79  24| 0.00  18.98  17.44  +1.94  +2.15
Clear Lake  53  +1  75  23| 0.04  30.17  28.20  +8.73  +9.73
Sisseton    56  +5  79  26| 0.01  21.10  19.40  +2.35  +3.14
Webster     56  +6  77  28| 0.00  21.19  18.26  +2.26  +1.67
Watertown   54  +4  76  26| 0.02  22.07  20.70  +2.32  +3.54
Faith       58  +6  80  32| 0.00  16.12  15.40  +1.01  +2.15
Milesville  59  +6  83  31| 0.00  18.51  16.52  +2.19  +2.17
Long Valley 60  +6  80  30| 0.00  15.73  13.75  -0.68  -0.73
Philip      60  +6  84  31| 0.00  13.15  12.34  -1.43  -0.56
Rapid City  60  +8  84  33| 0.00  11.86   9.92  -3.09  -3.04
Spearfish   60  +9  85  33| 0.05  13.24  10.82  -6.30  -5.86
Chamberlain 58  +4  78  34| 0.00  22.40  19.18  +6.48  +5.08
Highmore    58  +6  78  29| 0.00  22.79  20.52  +4.90  +4.77
Huron       57  +6  78  28| 0.00  25.66  22.50  +7.67  +7.32
Onida       59  +6  79  29| 0.00  17.23  14.49  +0.70  +0.35
Pierre      60  +7  79  33| 0.00  16.60  14.24  -0.30  -0.57
Brookings   52  +3  74  26| 0.02  24.37  22.56  +3.56  +3.79
Madison     53  +2  73  27| 0.00  26.26  24.36  +5.09  +6.37
Mitchell    55  +2  75  30| 0.04  28.59  25.63  +8.91  +8.65
Sioux Falls 56  +5  74  31| 0.08  29.72  26.15  +8.65  +7.94
Custer      53  +6  74  30| 0.00  11.17   9.69  -6.18  -5.74
Hot Springs 57  +3  82  33| 0.00  10.81   8.65  -3.68  -4.31
Oelrichs    57  +4  82  34| 0.00  10.56   8.72  -4.70  -4.57
Porcupine   57  +7  81  34| 0.00  12.93  10.31  -1.60  -2.70
Murdo       58  +5  77  34| 0.00  16.20  13.75  -0.02  -0.15
Winner      62  +6  77  33| 0.00  20.53  16.95  -0.83  -1.52
Armour      57  +3  75  32| 0.00  22.24  18.87  +1.62  +1.20
Centerville 53  +1  73  23| 0.27  25.95  21.72  +3.56  +2.17
Marion      54  +3  74  30| 0.18  30.99  27.59  +9.27  +8.94
Pickstown   59  +4  76  31| 0.03  19.69  17.10  -0.24  -0.27
Vermillion  57  +3  75  33| 0.17  26.48  21.67  +4.59  +2.47
Yankton     55  +2  76  32| 0.12  29.53  24.28  +8.49  +5.80


Source: National Weather Service, provided by AWIS, Inc.