Colorado Crop Progress Drought Monitor Reports

Here with last weeks NASS crop progress and U.S. Drought Monitor Report is Market Reporter Lindsay Burnet from the Greeley USDA office.

Brunet: "For the week ending May 21st states that rain and snow across the state halted field work mid-week, according to the Mountain Field office of the National Ag Statistics Services of the USDA. Several localities received inches of rain with areas at higher elevation receiving moderate to heavy snow. Precipitation continues to improve dry land crop and pasture conditions as well as soil moisture. The San Luis also received some late snow and freezing temperature that damaged some growing alfalfa. Store feed supplies were rated 4 percent short, 87 percent adequate and 9 percent surplus. Sheep death loss was 70 percent average and 30 percent light. Cattle death loss was 2 percent heavy, 77 percent average and 21 percent light. Alfalfa stands are rated 4 percent poor, 21 percent fair, 66 percent good and 9 percent excellent. Alfalfa first cutting is 3 percent complete. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a stripe of heavy precipitation from the Central Rockies into the Upper Mid-West erased pockets of abnormal dryness in Nebraska and reduce coverage of dryness and moderate drought in Colorado. Storminess across the Central Rockies led to further reduction in the coverage of abnormal dryness and moderate drought mainly in Colorado. On May 18-19th, Cheyenne, Wyoming, was blanketed with 14.3 inches of snow which snowfall ranging from 1 to 3 feet in several locations in the Rockies."