Crop Progress and Pasture and Range Condition Update

From the USDA Market News Office in Greeley, Heath Dewey provides an update
Dewey: “The NASS Crop Progress and Condition report ending the week of May 22nd Has first cutting alfalfa at 10 percent complete. Pasture and range condition percentages were 7 percent very poor, 9 percent poor, 24 percent fair, 50 percent good and 10 percent excellent. According to the Drought Monitor’s weekly comparison Colorado’s D0 drought category was reduced from 4.78 to 3.83 percent.”
Addressing the nation’s pasture and rangeland condition is USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey who says that the ratings overall continue to improve towards record territory.
Rippey: “For the week ending May 22nd, indicating 64 percent of the nation’s pasture and rangeland rated good to excellent condition — not quite a record but getting very close. That is up a point from last week and we are steady at just 8 percent very poor to poor. Most of the stressed pastures are in the Southwest. On the flip side, good to excellent ratings a lot of states reporting at least 80 percent good to excellent. That list includes: South Dakota, Nebraska then a strip across the Eastern Corn Belt — Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. So we are off to a really good start everything looks pretty green in most of the country as we head into late May —- certainly approaching record territory and if this upward trend continues we could see record high pasture conditions moving into June assuming the moisture persists.”