No. 355 April 1,  1955
INDIANA CROPS AND LIVESTOCK
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE
AGRICULTURAL ESTIMATES DIVISION
COOPERATING WITH
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA
INDIANA
Prospective wheat production in Indiana as  of April  1  is estimated at 31,968,000
bushels which is 20 percent less than produced last year and 6 percent below average.
The smaller crop is due to reduced acreage. The acreage seeded last fall was estimated
to be 1,184,000 which is 10 percent less than the acreage seeded for 1954 and 22 percent
below average. Wheat has come through the winter with very little loss of acreage and
has made good growth for this time of year.
Stocks of corn on farms April 1 are estimated to be 126,303,000 bushels, while stocks
a year ago were 115,122,000 bushels and average stocks were 99,042,000. Oats stocks
are also large, estimated at 17,688,000 bushels which are 29 percent greater than a
year ago and 23 percent more than average. Barley and rye stocks are also large.
Barley stocks estimated at 346,000 bushels are more than twice as large as last year.
Rye stocks at 318,000 bushels are nearly 14 times as large as last year.
Wheat stocks on farms on April 1 are the highest on record, estimated at 9,531,000
bushels. This is nearly a third larger than last year and over four times as large as
average. Large production of storable grain, and price advantage from storing are the
reasons for the increased stocks.
Soybean stocks on farms on April 1 are estimated to be 15,684,000 bushels. This is
nearly four times as large as last year and nearly three times the average stocks. The
arge stocks this year are the result of soybean prices declining throughout most of
the winter, in contrast to the sharp increase in prices in the winter and spring of 1954.
Egg production in March is estimated at 293 million eggs compared with 299 million
in March, 1954. The number of layers during March of this year was slightly larger
I than a year earlier but the rate of lay was 2 percent less.
Milk production during March at 306 million pounds is nearly 4 percent less than a year
asro because of smaller number of cows, but is 7 percent greater than average mostly
aecause of increased rate of production.
UNITED STATES
Farming and the weather were out of step in late March over much of the Nation.
Resulting crop damage from freezes included nearly complete loss of peaches east of
the Rockies and south of a line through central Illinois, heavy damage to truck crops,
pecans, tung nuts and to most southern deciduous fruits, and to many early plantings
of corn and cotton, as well as earliest small grains. In addition, the adverse weather
resulted in serious setbacks to crop progress and prospects, also caused further damage
to winter wheat in the dry western part of the Southern Great Plains. These losses,
serious as they are to areas concerned, do not yet portend shortage in total seasonal
crop production. Over many areas growing conditions later in the season have greater
influence on final outcome than the vagaries of March weather. Improved soil moisture
applies in major producing sections have strengthened confidence in production pros-
pects for grains and forage. Principal western and northern fruit areas still have good
prospects, as do all citrus areas. Time remains for replanting southern field crops. The
dry weather in the far West, however, did not generally improve prospects for irriga-
lon water, which continue below average.
Winter wheat prospects were largely  maintained  or improved  over much  of the
country other than in the South and dry Southwest, as many fields were protected by
dormancy or by snow cover preceding the onset of severe cold. Further extensive
ftape *Tom drought and wind erosion occurred to the crop in eastern Colorado, south-
tern Kansas, eastern New Mexico and the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle country,
ear'y April has improved conditions in part of this area, but appears
North total or near-failure for a large acreage. Many fields in
and n*ra' States which had greened before the cold wave struck were browned back
growth retarded. Much more serious, but still undetermined freeze damage occurred in