Rainfall brings temporary sigh of relief

Oklahoma

During the week ending Aug. 20, Oklahoma gladly welcomed the rainfall received, according to the Oklahoma Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Aug. 21.

The rains were often very spotty so some areas of the state benefited from the rains while other areas got little to no rainfall. Four districts received nearly an inch of rain while the West Central and Panhandle districts averaged over an inch and a half of rain last week. Even though producers were relieved to see the rainfall, temperatures continued to soar into the triple digits across the state last week which was still a cause for concern. Additional rain and cooler temperatures are needed to try to offset the impact of the drought. Topsoil moisture conditions showed improvement from last weeks rains while subsoil moisture conditions remained steady. Some of the weekly reports arrived before weekend rains which influenced the soil moisture categories in the tables below. There were 6.0 days suitable for fieldwork.

With the expectation of rain in the forecast last week, many producers were working on seedbed preparations and Wheat and oats jumped 17 and 13 points, respectively from last week. After the rain, Wheat producers in some areas of the state were now waiting for the fields to dry up to begin planting the 2007 Wheat crop.

Conditions for sorghum and soybeans improved slightly from the rainfall received last week. Cotton conditions dropped slightly and remained mostly in the poor to very poor range. Peanut conditions also declined from last week but were mostly in the good to fair range. Corn conditions were in mostly excellent to good condition. Most of the corn in the state has reached the dough stage while just over a fourth of the crop was harvested by week's end. Sorghum and soybeans were maturing slightly ahead of normal and had reached 14 and 12 percent, respectively. Peanut pod set was virtually complete. Cotton boll set increased 12 points from last week and 12 percent of the bolls were beginning to open.

Alfalfa hay conditions improved slightly from last week while 82 percent of the other hay was in mostly poor to very poor condition. Hay supplies continued to be low. The third cutting of alfalfa made limited progress while 45 percent of the alfalfa hay had reached its fourth cutting. The second cutting of other hay jumped 27 points last week but was still behind normal.

Watermelon harvest was winding down at 93 percent.

Even with some rain last week, the above normal temperatures offset much of the benefit to pastures across the state. Pasture and range conditions remained in critical condition. Ponds continued to be dry which forced some producers to have to haul water to their livestock.

Livestock conditions dropped slightly from last week remaining in mostly poor to very poor condition. Livestock marketings were high with light insect activity. Livestock producers continued to search for hay as hay supplies continued to be scarce. Feeder steers under 800 pounds averaged $118.00 per cwt. and feeder heifers less than 800 pounds averaged $110.85 per cwt.

Date: 8/24/06

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