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Released: August 23, 1999 -- 3:00 p. For Week Ending August 22, 1999 Volume 48 Issue 24

GENERAL
Crops and pastures statewide are in much need of rain, according to the USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service. Major activities by farmers and ranchers during the week include irrigating, equipment maintenance, site preparation for fall seed ing, mowing, and spraying. Statewide, there were 6.4 days suitable for fieldwork.

Based on information from county extension educators, farm service agency county directors and other reporters around the state.

SOIL MOISTURE
Soil moisture levels declined notice ably around the state during the last week. Adequate topsoil and subsoil conditions fell 13 and 11 points to 43 and 59 percent, respectively. Most of the central portion of the state had short topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions. Adequate soil moisture existed in the southeast, northern, and western counties. 



     
    
SOIL MOISTURE CONDITION COMPARISON - AUGUST 20


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

                       Percent
Very 
 Short     11     5    5     3     1     1
Short      44    31   21    36    20    16
Adeq.      43    56   70    59    70    76
Surplus     2     8    4     2     9     7


CROPS
Dry conditions allowed small grain harvest to nearly finish last week, ahead of last year's progress. Spring wheat is 93 percent harvested, up 11 points from last week and 9 points from the five-year average. Barley and oats, at 92 and 96 percent harvested, respectively, are also ahead of the five-year averages. Row crop progress has been slowed by dry conditions. Many counties are reporting drought symptoms in corn and soybeans and expressing concern over soybeans filling properly. Corn, overall, is developing ahead of the five-year average. Harvesting corn for silage has been reported in some counties. There was one report of seed weevils in sunflower. 




 

        CROP AND LIVESTOCK CONDITIONS - AUGUST 22

ITEM       V POOR   POOR   FAIR   GOOD   EXCEL

                          Percent
Alfalfa        0       3     34      54      9
Sorghum        0       2     20      70      8
Soybeans       2       7     30      48     13
Corn           2       6     28      48     16
Sunflower      0       3     22      56     19
Flaxseed       0       0     17      62     21
Cattle         0       1     11      64     24
Sheep          0       2     13      55     30
Range   
   Pasture     2       6     27      48     17


LIVESTOCK AND FORAGE
Range and pasture conditions declined due to lower soil moisture. Stock water supplies are adequate. Cattle condition, mostly good, is unchanged from last week. Sheep condition declined slightly from last week but remained in fair to good condition. There were numerous reports of pinkeye, while reports of flies and foot-rot have declined. Percent of alfalfa acreage harvested twice is 88 percent complete and the third cutting is 47 percent complete. Alfalfa conditions decreased due to the hot weather.

WEATHER
Statewide, temperatures ranged from 4 degrees above normal at Murdo to 3 degrees below normal at Britton and Roscoe. Average temperatures ranged from 66 degrees at Custer to 76 degrees at Pierre. The lowest temperature was 45 degrees at Custer and Huron. Winner was the warmest at 101 degrees and received the most precipitation at 0.82 inch. 


             


             CROP PROGRESS - AUGUST 22 1/
                                                                                     
                This   Last   Last   5-Yr.
ITEM            Week   Week   Year    Ave
  
  
                         Percent
Barley  
 ripe            99     93    100     98
 harvested       92     76     96     88
Spring wheat
 ripe            99     96    100     97
 harvested       93     82     95     84
Oats       
 ripe            99     95    100     98
 harvested       96     87     97     93  
Corn    
 silked          99     94    100     96
 dough           72     60     77     55
 dented          28     12     27     15
Flaxseed
 ripe            91     63     95     62
 harvested       71      5     67     23
Sorghum    
 headed          83     55     76     80
 coloring        34     24     31     21
Soybeans
 setting pods    89     72     91     89
Sunflower  
 blooming        90     72     90     92
 ray flowers dry 34     22     37     35
 bracts yellow   24     20     35     21
Winter wheat
 seeded           1      0      3      1
 emerged          0      0      1      0
Winter rye  
 seeded           6      0     14      3
 emerged          2      0      1      0
Alfalfa     
 2nd cutting     88     85     90     83
 3rd cutting     47     30     34     NA
Other hay  
 cut             89     84     87     86  
1/ Percents represent all acreage in or beyond each stage.


            TEMPERATURE  |    -----  PRECIPITATION -----   | GDD BASE 50F
            -----------  |       SINCE  SINCE  SINCE  SINCE| ------------
           CURRENT WEEK  | CURR  JAN 1  APR 1  JAN 1  APR 1|SINCE APRIL 6
STATION    AVG DFN  HI  LO| WEEK  TOTAL  TOTAL    DFN    DFN| TOTAL   DFN
-------    --  --  --  --|-----  -----  -----  -----  -----| -----  ----
Buffalo     69  -2  90  50| 0.06  14.22  13.00  +3.61  +3.57|  1544  -231
Aberdeen    69  -2  87  49| 0.12  16.28  14.49  +2.30  +2.69|  1990    +6
Leola       69  -1  88  51| 0.00  20.14  18.12  +5.68  +5.81|  1901   -24
Mobridge    70  -1  88  52| 0.00  15.94  15.44  +2.95  +4.35|  1916   -99
Roscoe      69  -3  92  51| 0.02  19.30  17.38  +4.80  +4.80|  1745  -197
Britton     69  -3  86  47| 0.00  20.76  18.12  +6.81  +5.88|  1970   -50
Sisseton    69  -2  86  54| 0.06  17.24  14.49  +1.80  +1.48|  1995   -70
Watertown   69  -1  86  47| 0.00  12.20  10.65  -4.10  -3.12|  1941   -20
Webster     69  -2  85  49| 0.39  19.25  16.62  +3.61  +3.27|  1914   -32
Faith_AP    71  -1  91  51| 0.00  13.27  12.37  +0.18  +1.09|  1830  -208
Lead        67  +2  84  47| 0.03  24.17  19.87  +2.64  +3.57|  1316   -73
Philip_AP   72  -2  91  49| 0.18  16.60  15.54  +3.97  +4.55|  2013  -221
Rapid_City  71  +1  91  50| 0.26  16.89  15.79  +4.06  +4.90|  1738  -100
Chamberlain 74  +0  97  54| 0.05  19.46  17.69  +5.81  +5.81|  2041  -315
Highmore    72  +0  94  48| 0.00  15.59  14.59  +0.52  +1.59|  2056   -74
Huron       73  +2  98  45| 0.67  12.27  11.44  -2.89  -0.97|  2251  +133
Pierre      76  +3 100  52| 0.08  15.10  14.00  +0.73  +1.67|  2428  +175
Brookings   69  +2  87  50| 0.18  15.13  13.11  -1.49  -1.53|  1895  +112
Madison     71  +3  87  52| 0.57  15.78  15.02  -1.48  +0.87|  1995   +56
Mitchell    73  +2  96  53| 0.00  22.94  20.57  +6.98  +7.24|  2201   -75
Sioux_Falls 72  +2  88  53| 0.07  20.28  18.48  +3.91  +4.90|  2136    +2
Custer      66  +2  83  45| 0.09  17.34  16.54  +2.49  +3.57|  1117  -100
Hot_Springs 70  -2  90  49| 0.60  18.75  17.17  +6.40  +6.31|  1748  -277
Porcupine   70  -2  94  46| 0.21  19.61  17.86  +7.03  +6.76|  1761  -296
Bonesteel   73  +3  98  52| 0.06  17.62  13.80  -1.27  -2.33|  2055   -54
Mission     72  +3  96  48| 0.07  18.88  17.41  +3.95  +4.50|  1932   -30
Murdo       75  +4  97  56| 0.03  16.22  13.13  +2.09  +1.26|  2082   -38
Winner      76  +2 101  53| 0.82  15.30  13.74  -2.78  -1.51|  2250  -207
Armour      74  +2  94  52| 0.08  21.02  19.16  +4.09  +5.11|  2325   -29
Vermillion  72  -2  87  54| 0.41  26.88  25.86  +8.92 +10.53|  2379   -71
Yankton     72  +1  90  55| 0.07  23.90  22.42  +6.57  +7.60|  2226   -35
 
SOURCE: National Weather Service, Provided by AWIS, Inc.
bar chart showing crop progress compared to the last 10 years

                                     
 
 
 
South Dakota county map showing topsoil moisture South Dakota county map showing subsoil moisture

Topsoil image in 'TIF' format for publishers
Subsoil image in 'TIF' format for publishers
 

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