April 4, 2008 

Wheat conditions declined from last month and rated 1% very poor, 9% poor, 40% fair, 45% good, and 5% excellent, below last year's condition of 58% good or excellent.

Oat planting was underway with 9% seeded statewide.

Hay and forage supplies rated 3% very short, 11% short, 85% adequate, and 1% surplus, well above year ago levels.

March in Review

Looking back at the month of March, variable temperatures during the first half of the month gave way to normal temperatures during the last half. Precipitation during the first thirty days of March was below normal with most areas receiving less than one inch of moisture. A front moved through the northern part of the state at the end of the month, leaving snow cover in some areas of the northeast and north central. Fieldwork was mostly limited to fertilizer applications and seed bed preparations. Calving continued to make good progress with normal calf losses reported. Soil temperatures were above freezing across the entire state with some areas in the southwest reaching the upper 40s.

USDA Agricultural Statistics Service Nebraska Field Office
March 31 Report