Break in the heat was good for crops, Northey says

“The break in the heat and rain toward the end of last week was a very welcome change and good news for both crop and livestock farmers," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today .

"The weather has also allowed  hay harvest to continue and second cutting of alfalfa is now ahead of the five-year average,” Northey said.  “Hopefully the more seasonable weather forecast for this week will benefit crops stressed by the heat.”

The weekly report is also available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship's website at www.IowaAgriculture.gov or on USDA's site at www.nass.usda.gov/ia.  The report follows here:

Even with a return to seasonable weather, many farmers would like to see more rain. High winds accompanying storms on Saturday downed trees and damaged grain bins in parts of central and south central Iowa.

Soybean aphid populations have warranted spraying in many areas and Goss' wilt has been reported in some Iowa corn fields in central to north central Iowa.

There were 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork statewide during the past week. Only west central, southwest, and south central Iowa had less than 6.0 days suitable.

Topsoil moisture levels rated 10 percent very short, 28 percent short, 60 percent adequate, and 2 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture rated 4 percent very short, 23 percent short, 70 percent adequate, and 3 percent surplus.

Nearly all of the corn crop is tasseling and silking. Sixty-seven percent of the corn crop has reached the milk stage, behind last year's 77 percent but ahead of the normal 61 percent.

Nineteen percent of the corn crop has reached dough stage, behind last year's 34 percent and the average 23 percent. Corn in the dent stage is not yet widespread, but even in a normal year only 3 percent of the crop would be in dent.

Corn condition declined slightly to 2 percent very poor, 5 percent poor, 20 percent fair, 51 percent good, and 22 percent excellent. Ninety-five percent of the soybean crop is blooming, between the previous year's 96 percent and the five-year average of 94 percent.

Pods are being set on 69 percent of the soybean crop compared with 79 percent last year at this time and the average 76 percent. Soybean condition was nearly unchanged from previous reports at 1 percent very poor, 5 percent poor, 19 percent fair, 52 percent good and 23 percent excellent.

Ninety-one percent of the oat crop has been harvested, behind last year's 92 percent but ahead of the normal 85 percent. Second cutting alfalfa hay harvest, at 93 percent complete, is ahead of last year's 87 percent and the normal 90 percent.

Third cutting alfalfa hay harvest advanced to 21 percent complete, behind both last year and normal. The condition of the hay crop is reported at 3 percent very poor, 11 percent poor, 33 percent fair, 43 percent good, and 10 percent excellent.

Pasture and range condition rated 4 percent very poor, 14 percent poor, 33 percent fair, 42 percent good, and 7 percent excellent. Livestock producers welcomed the return to more seasonable weather but it may take time for livestock to fully recover from the heat stress.

IOWA PRELIMINARY WEATHER SUMMARY

By Harry Hillaker, State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship

The past reporting week began with the hottest weather of the season for much of Iowa on Monday (1st) and Tuesday (2nd). Actual temperatures climbed above 100 degrees over parts of south central and southeast Iowa.

Fairfield reported the highest official temperature with a Tuesday afternoon high of 106 degrees. This was the highest temperature recorded anywhere in Iowa since July 19, 2006. The heat was again accompanied by high humidity with official heat index values peaking at 117 degrees at Iowa City on Tuesday.

Temperatures and humidity decreased for the rest of the week but remained above normal with a few brief exceptions in some areas. Cresco saw temperatures fall to 55 degrees on Thursday (4th) morning and all of Iowa finally saw overnight lows less than 70 degrees by Sunday (7th) morning.

Temperatures for the week as a whole averaged 4.8 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, most of the state was dry until Thursday when showers and thunderstorms dampened much of central and southwest Iowa.

Rain also fell over much of the southwest three-fourths of Iowa on Friday (5th) and the southeast three-fourths of the state late Saturday (6th) into early Sunday morning.

Rain totals for the week varied from none at Bellevue, Cascade, Northwood, Osage and Swea City to 4.52 inches near Leon.

The statewide average precipitation was 0.50 inch or a little more than one-half of the weekly normal of 0.94 inch.