Monday is the day we look forward to the Alabama Weekly Crop and Weather Report and Crop Progress Report from the Department of Agriculture, Alabama, Field Office in Montgomery. Here we go with some interesting excerpts:
* 57% is how much of the state’s pasture and rangeland is still in very poor condition. An additional 29% is rated as poor.
* 41% of livestock in the state is in very poor condition and 29% poor. Only 22% was in fair condition and 8% good.
* 45% of the soybeans were rated as very poor and an additional 40% as poor.
* 70% of the corn crop was very poor, 18% poor, only 9% in fair condition and 3% in good condition.
* 68% of Alabama had very short topsoil moisture. That’s a slight improvement from last week when 75% was rated very short.
* 20.51 inches is the rain deficiency for 2007 at Gadsden Airport. They have only received 10.54 inches so far this year.
* 4.84 inches is the deficiency at Geneva, in far South Alabama, where the drought is not rated as severe. Geneva was in the best shape of all stations reporting during the past week.
* 20.14 inches is the rain shortage at Tuscaloosa Airport for the year.
* 20.34 inches was the shortfall at Thorsby in Chilton County. Gadsden, Thorsby and Tuscaloosa were the only 3 places with more than 20 inches deficiency.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES FROM THE WEEKLY REPORT
* Nearly 44% of the state was still in the category of an Exceptional Drought compared with about 43% a week ago and none one year ago.
* All reporting stations had at least some rain during the past week. Jasper had 2.74 inches over a six-day period and Marion Junction 2.53 inches in four days.
* Temperatures during the past week were as much as 6 degrees hotter than normal.
* Autauga County Extension Agent, Leonard Kuykendall, reported that some farmers went ahead and harvested disaster corn as forage. Many soybean growers took advantage of the showers and finished planting their late soybean crops.
* In SE Alabama, William Birdsong, Extension Agronomist at the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center, said that Alabama’s cotton crop in that area looked much better after last week’s rain, but it was still a long way from being a promising crop. Most cotton fields had stands that were skippy and poor.
* In NE Alabama, Daniel Porch, Agent for the Sand Mountain Region, said that most of NE Alabama had rain ranging from 0.50 to 3.00 inches during the past week. The rain was too late for some crops, but the late season melons and vegetables benefited tremendously. Summer tomatoes and vegetables were being harvested. Farmers were busy planting melons, tomatoes, pumpkins and peas.
PASTURE/HAY/LIVESTOCK
The range and pasture condition in Alabama remained virtually unchanged during the past week despite most areas getting some rain. In Macon County, ranchers continued to reduce herd sizes. In Pike County, farmers were only able to harvest one cutting of hay.
