No. 188
May  1,   1941
INDIANA
CROPS AND LIVESTOCK
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
GRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE
COOPERATING WITH
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA
INDIANA
Indiana/ wmt&il whgarcrop/prospects improved 2.5 bushels per acre during April.
Total pro<W^qp is mxt forecast to be 30,888,000 bushels which is from 2 to 3 percent
more than !5ars4l2eOT^|>c*epand the ten year (1930-39) average. A yield per acre of 19.5
bushels is expected which is the same as last year, but about 11 percent more than average. Based on present prospects the acreage to be abandoned because of winter injury
and other causes will amount to only one percent of the acreage seeded last fall compared with an average abandonment of 4.4 percent. Wheat prospects are generally good
in all areas of the state. The considerably higher than average temperatures and
materially less than normal rainfall appear to be very beneficial to wheat.
Rye acreage for harvest is estimated to be 123,000 acres which is 50 percent of the
acreage seeded for all purposes last fall. Rye crop prospects like wheat are also substantially above average. Total production is forecast to be 1,660,000 bushels compared
with an average production of 1,473,000 bushels, but about 7 percent less than last year.
The lack of moisture in April apparently has not been detrimental to the growth of
by and pasture crops. The condition of pasture is reported at 82 percent of normal
compared with 76 percent both last year and on the average. A month ago the condition was reported at 72 percent of normal. Tame hay condition is reported at 83 percent
of normal compared with 81 last year and an average of 76 percent. There have been
occasional reports that the drought of 1940 killed out some of the new clover and grass
seedings, resulting in rather thin stands for hay and pasture this year.
The carry-over of hay on farms is estimated to be 397,000 tons compared with 327,000
tons last year and an average of 348,000 tons. Apparently last year's large hay crop was
well balanced with the increased numbers of hay eating animals on farms.
Crop correspondents report that on May 1st they had an average of 92 hens and pullets
of laying age compared with 98 last year and a ten year (1927-36) average of 99.2. There
is only one year in the 17 for which records are available that the number was less.
A.s an offsetting factor to the low number of hens and pullets on farms, the egg production at 62.6 eggs per 100 layers is the highest on record. It compares with 60.0 last year
and an average of 58.3 eggs.
Milk cows on reporters farms on May 1st produced 23.0 pounds of milk per cow milked
compared with 21.1 last year and an average of 20.8. The percentage of cows being
milked is reported at 74.9 compared with 73.4 last year and an average of 74.0 percent.
UNITED STATES
Early reports on crops show conditions generally favorable though in many ways
unusual. Nearly everywhere east of the Rockies, April was warm and from Minnesota
and Illinois eastward April temperatures averaged nearly as high as is normal for the
first of May. Southwestern ranges, favored by abundant rains, are blooming like a
flower garden, and in the West as a whole ranges have rarely had a better start. April
showers have been heavier in most of the "Dustbowl" than in the eastern end of the
Corn Belt.   Farmers in a vast area extending from North Dakota to the Rio Grande,