October 24 Crop Progress and Harvest Reports in Nebraska and Iowa

Corn Harvest About Half Complete in Nebraska
Soybean Harvest about Two Weeks Ahead of Average Pace

Agricultural  Summary: 
For  the  week  ending  October  23,  2011,  hard  freezing  temperatures  were recorded in many locations, ending the growing season and promoting the dry down of unharvested crops, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field  Office.    Soybean  harvest  was  winding  down  with progress  two weeks ahead of average.   Corn and  sorghum harvests neared  the half way point with sorghum harvest a week  ahead  of  average.    Sugarbeet  harvest  continued  to advance  while  proso  millet  harvest  neared  completion.  Some  field work has  started on harvested  fields.   Most of the wheat crop has emerged with conditions well above last year.  Calves were weaned and some were sold.   

Weather  Summary:   
Temperatures  for  the  week averaged 7 degrees below normal resulting in the first hard freeze.    High  temperatures  reached  the  70’s  and  lows dipped  into  the  lower  20’s.   Limited  rain  fell  during  the week with accumulations  less  than a quarter of an  inch  in most locations.    
Topsoil Moisture:  Very Short 5%,  Short 31%,  Adequate 64%,  Surplus 0%  
Subsoil Moisture:  Very Short 4%,  Short 30%,  Adequate 66%,  Surplus 0% 

Field  Crops  Report: 
Corn  condition  rated  2  percent very poor, 6 poor, 14 fair, 58 good, and 20 excellent, near 75  percent  good  to  excellent  last  week.   Irrigated  corn conditions  rated  78 percent good  to  excellent  and  dryland corn  rated 74.   Corn mature was 97 percent, near 100  last year  but  ahead  of  94  average.   Corn  harvest  was  at  49  percent,  well  behind  71  last  year  but  ahead  of  39 average.  

Soybean  harvest was  at  93  percent,  near  95  last  year  but well ahead of 76 average.  

Winter Wheat conditions rated 0 percent very poor, 0 poor, 18  fair, 68  good,  and  14  excellent, well  above 40 percent good  to  excellent  last  year.    Winter  Wheat  seeded  was  99 percent, equal  to  last year and near 98 average.   Wheat emerged was 93 percent, near 90 last year and average. 

Sorghum  conditions  rated  1  percent  very  poor,  9  poor,  16 fair, 59 good, and 15 excellent, near 78 percent good to excellent last week.  Sorghum mature was 93 percent, near 95  last year but ahead of 89 average.  Sorghum harvested was  46  percent,  near  49  last  year  but  ahead  of  30 average. 

Livestock, Pasture and Range Report: 
Pasture and range conditions rated 2 percent very poor, 5 poor, 25 fair, 63 good, and 5 excellent, near  last year’s 69 percent good to excellent but above 57 average.



Current Weather & Crops County Comments
Survey Date: 10/23/2011

BOONE
Some cattle being moved to stalks. Corn harvest progressing nicely. Yields are down due to green snap.

CEDAR
Has been a good week for harvest, most of the soybeans are harvested and corn harvest is underway. Reports of lower than expected yields for soybeans, reports on corn are good test weight, low moisture and good yields.

DIXON
A lot of corn acres were harvested through the week. Light scattered showers off and on helped keep the fire danger down. Several producers are hoping to be finished with harvest this week.

GAGE
Cattle moving to stalks or hay feeding. Hay supply likely to get tighter as feed continues to move south.

KNOX
Soybean harvest is almost complete. Corn harvest is in full progress. Yields are generally better than expected. Cattle are being removed from pastures and moved to stalk fields.

NEMAHA
Extremely dry conditions in the area. Harvest is progressing rapidly. Soybeans essentially complete and corn making good progress. Much of the area had a freeze last week. Pastures are done.



Click here for the state by state harvest progress numbers... http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-10-24-2011.txt. 



Corn Harvest Nears Three-Quarters Complete in Iowa
Corn, Bean Harvest both 2 Weeks Ahead of Average Pace

Dry weather prevailed across the State with only light showers delaying harvest  across  southwestern  Iowa  on Saturday  afternoon  and  evening.  The dry weather  aided harvest progress  and  allowed  tillage,  terracing, tiling, and fertilizer applications to continue with few delays.  However, soil moisture  shortages  increased.   Warm  day  time  temperatures  and mostly gentle breezes promoted grain dry-down.   The average moisture content  of  standing  corn  is  estimated  at  17 percent  and  the  moisture content of standing corn is estimated at an average of 16 percent.
  
There  were  6.6  days  suitable  for  fieldwork  statewide  during  the  past week.   Topsoil moisture  levels  rated 35 percent very  short, 37 percent short,  27 percent  adequate,  and  1 percent  surplus.    Subsoil  moisture rated 29 percent very  short, 40 percent  short, 30 percent  adequate, and 1 percent  surplus.    Grain  movement  continued  at  a  busy  pace,  with 54 percent of the State seeing moderate to heavy grain movement from farm  to  elevator.   As  the harvest  season  approaches  the home  stretch, 93 percent  of  the  State  reports  adequate  or  surplus  off-farm  storage capacity and 87 percent of the State reports adequate or surplus on-farm storage capacity.

Seventy-one percent  of  the  corn  crop  has  been  harvested  for  grain  for seed, 4 days behind 2010 but 2 Weeks ahead of  the  five-year average.  Corn condition stands at 5 percent very poor, 9 percent poor, 27 percent fair,  46 percent  good,  and  13 percent  excellent.   

Soybean  harvest advanced to 95 percent complete, behind last year’s 97 percent but over 2  weeks  ahead  of  the  average  pace.    More  than  90 percent  of  the soybeans  are  harvested  in  every  district  except  the  East  Central  and Southeast, where harvest is at 88 percent and 89 percent, respectively. 

Pasture and range condition rated 20 percent very poor, 27 percent poor, 33 percent fair, 19 percent good, and 1 percent excellent.    Hay supplies are  considered  short  across  22 percent  of  Iowa.    Livestock  producers continued moving cattle to stalk fields.



IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY
Provided by Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist

The  past  reporting week  began with  temperatures well  below  normal.  Daytime  highs were  only  in  the  50s  on Monday  (17th)  and  Thursday (20th), mid 40s  to mid 50s on Tuesday and mostly 40s on Wednesday.  Overnight  lows  fell  to  19 degrees  at  Sheldon  on Wednesday morning and  to  18 degrees  at Battle Creek  on  Friday morning.   A  hard  freeze was  reported  over  parts  of  northern  Iowa  each  day  from  Monday morning  through Thursday morning with a  statewide  freeze on Friday morning.    A  warming  trend  began  on  Friday  afternoon  with  high temperatures mostly  in  the 70s by Sunday (23rd).   Onawa, Shenandoah and  Sidney  reported  the  week’s  highest  temperatures  with  78 degree readings on Sunday.   Temperatures  for  the week  as  a whole  averaged 3.2 degrees below normal.   Light rain fell over  the southwest one-third of  the  state  on  both  Monday  (17th)  and  Saturday  night  into  Sunday morning.    Weekly  rain  totals  varied  from  none  over  much  of  the northeast two-thirds of Iowa to 0.22 inch at Underwood (Pottawattamie Co.).    The  statewide  average  precipitation  was  only  0.03  inch  while normal for the week is 0.53 inch.  Soil temperatures as of Sunday (23rd) averaged from the low 50s northeast to mid 50s southwest.