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Statewide soil moisture ratings fallSouth Dakota Continued lack of precipitation along with hot and windy weather during the week ending Aug. 31 has caused concern over crop and pasture conditions, while speeding along crop development, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, South Dakota Field Office, Sept. 2. There were 6.7 days suitable for fieldwork in the past week. Farm activities focused on the general care of livestock, preparing for winter wheat seeding and the silage harvest, and the cutting of hay in some areas. Warm and dry end of summer conditions continued throughout much of the week, according to the State Climate Office of South Dakota. A few small storms occurred over the state, but total precipitation reports were quite small. Chamberlain reported the highest precipitation total at 0.10 inch. Well over half the stations did not report any precipitation. Places in the southeast and south central are beginning to accumulate significant precipitation deficits due to lack of rainfall in the past few months. Some of the shorter term deficits do not show in the seasonal totals because of generally heavier early season precipitation totals. Temperatures were near to above average for the week. Much of the western part of the state was 4 to 8 F above average, with individual days reaching over 100 F at several locations. Statewide soil moisture ratings continue to fall with the lack of rainfall in South Dakota. Topsoil moisture is currently 53 percent in the adequate to surplus categories, down 12 percentage points from last week. However, this rating is still 7 percentage points higher than the five-year average. Subsoil moisture ratings dropped 8 percentage points to 62 percent in the adequate to surplus categories. The amount of area rated as D0 (Abnormally Dry) by the U.S. Drought Monitor doubled over the previous week, now covering 31.7 percent of state. Another week of hot and dry weather has continued to allow row crops to advance at a rapid rate. Corn is now 36 percent in the dent stage, up 24 percentage points from last week, but 27 percentage points behind the five-year average. Twelve percent of the soybean crop is now in the dropping leaves stage, only 8 percentage points behind the five-year average. Sunflowers advanced 30 points in the ray flowers dry stage, now estimated at 45 percent. Sorghum is 54 percent coloring, a 20 percentage point jump from last week. The hot and windy weather along with previously dry conditions have caused some producers to be concerned about corn and some soybean acres drying up before they have fully matured. Range and pasture conditions have remained the same as last week at 69 percent in the good to excellent category, despite some reports of pasture land drying up due to lack of moisture. Feed supplies and stock water supplies remained strong at 94 and 87 percent adequate to surplus, respectively. Livestock conditions have remained stable with cattle rated 91 percent good to excellent and sheep rated 93 percent good to excellent. 9/8/08 Date: 9/3/08 Advertisement
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