September 10 Crop Progress and Harvest Report

High Winds, Temps, Make a Dry Nebraska Drier
Main Focus = Corn Harvest, All Types

Agricultural  Summary: 
For  the  week  ending  September  9,  2012,  another  week  with  little  to  no  rain, temperatures  in  triple  digits,  and  winds  led  to  even  drier conditions,  according  to  USDA’s  National  Agricultural Statistics  Service,  Nebraska  Field  Office.    Producers  are encouraged  to  stay on alert as  fires during harvest have been reported.  Dryland corn harvest continues to spread across the state while harvest of early planted  irrigated  fields has begun in some locations.  Seed corn harvest is in full swing and high moisture  corn  was  picked  for  feed  lots.    Soybean  fields  are turning color and maturing  rapidly.   Winter wheat  fields  that have  been  seeded  into  dry  topsoil  will  need  moisture  for emergence.  Harvest  of  proso  millet  continued.    Cattle producers  continue  supplemental  feeding  livestock  due  to reduced  forage  supplies.  Selling of cattle  remains active due to high feed prices.  
 
Weather Summary: 
Little to no precipitation fell during the week.  Temperatures  averaged  1-2  degrees  above  normal across the state. Highs reached triple digits and overnight lows fell to the mid 30’s.  
 
Field  Crops  Report: 
Corn  in  the  dent  stage  reached  98 percent, ahead of 85 last year and 83 average.  Corn mature  reached 55 percent, compared to 7 last year and 17 days ahead of  13  average.    Corn  harvested  for  grain  was  12  percent, compared  to  1  last  year  and  average.   Corn  conditions  rated  22  percent  very  poor,  21  poor,  26  fair,  27  good,  and  4 excellent, well below 76 percent good  to excellent  last year and  79  average.   Irrigated  corn  conditions  rated  51  percent good to excellent and dryland corn rated 3.  

Soybeans  turning  color  were  at  77  percent,  compared  to  31  last  year  and  11  days  ahead  of  44  average.  Soybeans dropping  leaves were 25 percent, compared  to 2  last year and 7  average.   Conditions  rated  20  percent  very  poor,  27  poor,  35  fair,  17  good,  and  1  excellent,  well  below  last  year’s  81 percent good to excellent and 77 average.

Winter wheat seeded was at 8 percent, behind both 19 percent last year and 16 average.

Sorghum  headed  was  94  percent,  behind  100  last  year  and  99 average.  Sorghum turning color was 51 percent, compared to  78  last  year  and  68  average.    Sorghum  mature  was  3 percent, behind 6 last year but equal to 3 average.  Sorghum conditions  rated  13  percent  very  poor,  44  poor,  31  fair,  12  good,  and  0  excellent,  well  below  77  percent  good  to excellent last year and 78 average.

The  fourth  cutting  of  alfalfa  was  74  percent  complete, compared  to  28  last  year  and  24  average.   Alfalfa  condition rated  45  percent  very  poor,  29  poor,  17  fair,  8  good,  and  1 excellent, well below 78 percent good  to excellent  last year and 72 average.             
 
Livestock, Pasture and Range Report:
Pasture and  range conditions  rated  73  percent  very  poor,  24  poor,  3  fair,  0  good,  and  0  excellent,  well  below  71  percent  good  to excellent last year and 68 average.  



Current Weather & Crops County Comments
Survey Date: 09/09/2012

BOONE
Very dry. Wet corn is being harvested as well as dryland corn. Soybeans are dropping leaves.

CEDAR
A few producers started combining corn this last week.

DIXON
Drought conditions continue to affect the recovery of pastures and alfalfa. Several acres of corn have been harvested over the past week. Producers are concerned about field loss in the coming weeks. Early planted dryland corn is coming out of the field below 17 percent moisture. Livestock producers continue to work on putting up roughage in preparation for winter.

DODGE
Soybeans are turning fast and loosing leaves. Corn harvest is in full swing with some reporting of toxins. Supplemental feeding continues with cattle.

KNOX
Silage harvest is mostly complete. Corn harvest will begin. Soybeans are changing color rapidly. Cattle are being supplemented on pasture or removed.

OTOE
Corn harvest is well under way while yields vary from 50-120 bushels per acre. Producers are finding a black mold in the corn and very low test weights.



Click here for latest National progress numbers from USDA:   http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-09-10-2012.txt.  



Soybean Harvest Underway in Iowa; Harvest also Continues on Selected Corn Fields

Corn harvest continued  this week with many  farmers concentrating on fields with weaker stalks and those damaged by wind.  A few producers have  also  started  harvesting  soybeans,  according  to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service,  Iowa Field Office. There are  reports of some farmers being able to get a fourth and even fifth cutting of alfalfa hay.

There  were  6.1  days  suitable  for  fieldwork  statewide  during  the  past week.  Topsoil  moisture  level  is  rated  at  48  percent  very  short, 36 percent  short,  16  percent  adequate,  and  0  percent  surplus.  Subsoil moisture  improved  slightly  and  is now  rated  at 63 percent very  short, 30 percent short, 7 percent adequate, and 0 percent surplus.

Ninety-seven percent of the corn crop has reached the dent stage, ahead of  last  year’s  91  percent  and  the  five  year  average  of  79  percent. Seventy-two percent of the corn crop is now mature, well ahead of last year’s 28 percent and  the five year average of 25 percent. Ten percent of the corn crop has been harvested for grain or seed, three weeks ahead of  normal.   Moisture  content  of  all  corn  in  the  field  is  estimated  at 26 percent  while  the  moisture  content  of  corn  being  harvested  is estimated  at  21  percent.  Corn  lodging  is  rated  at  57  percent  none, 25 percent  light,  13  percent  moderate,  and  5  percent  heavy.  Ear droppage  is  rated  at  71  percent  none,  21  percent  light,  7  percent moderate, and 1 percent heavy.  Corn condition improved slightly and is now  rated  at  22  percent  very  poor,  30  percent  poor,  32  percent  fair, 15 percent good, and 1 percent excellent.

Seventy-seven percent of  the soybean crop is turning color, a jump of 26 percentage points from last week. Twenty-six percent of Iowa’s soybean fields are dropping leaves, 5 days ahead of  last year. Soybean condition  is  reported at 13 percent very  poor,  24  percent  poor,  39  percent  fair,  23  percent  good,  and 1 percent excellent. 
 
Twenty-three of Iowa’s pasture and range  land  is rated  in fair or better condition. Pasture and range condition  improved slightly  to 49 percent very  poor,  28  percent  poor,  19  percent  fair,  4  percent  good,  and 0 percent  excellent. Livestock  conditions  for  the week were  excellent.  Due to poor pasture conditions, some farmers are having to supplement their cattle with grain and hay. 



IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY
Provided by Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

The past  reporting week began with a  few scattered  light  showers and thunderstorms  on Monday  (3rd)  with  significant  rain  falling  over  the extreme  northeast  corner  of  the  state.    Thunderstorms  brought widespread rainfall to the northeast two-thirds of Iowa on Tuesday (4th) afternoon into Wednesday (5th) morning with some locally heavy rain in northeast Iowa.  Rain again fell over much of the northeast two-thirds of the state on Thursday (6th) night into Friday (7th) morning.  Finally, very light rain fell over much of the state on Friday.  The storms of Tuesday and  Thursday  nights  also  brought  scattered  areas  of  high  winds  and large  hail.    Rain  totals  for  the week  as  a  whole  were  near  to  above average across the northeast one-half of Iowa while the southwest one-third of  the state saw  little if any rain.   Rain  totals varied from none at locations such as Glenwood, Red Oak and Corning  to 3.71  inches near Elkader.   The  statewide  average  precipitation was  0.81  inches  or  just less  than  the  weekly  normal  of  0.84  inches.    Unseasonably  warm weather prevailed through Thursday with Tuesday being the hottest day in most areas with daytime highs in the nineties statewide.  Much cooler air  dominated  the  state  over  the  weekend  with  highs  mostly  in  the seventies.    Temperature  extremes  for  the  week  varied  from  Tuesday afternoon  highs  of  98 degrees  at  Indianola,  Little  Sioux,  Logan  and Sioux  City  to  a  Saturday  morning  low  of  37 degrees  at  Sibley.  Temperatures  for  the  week  as  a  whole  averaged  1.6 degrees  above normal.