MADISON (Commodity Online) : National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US said Wisconsin received welcome rains where fields had become rock hard and pastures parched.

The rain will help replenish alfalfa fields, giving them additional strength as winter approaches. The moisture also will help with plantings of winter wheat.

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Nearly two-thirds of the state's corn and soybean crops are rated in good to excellent condition, the Wisconsin field office of the NAS reported.

Madison tallied 3.93 inches of rain while Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha didn't even get a quarter-inch. Elsewhere, West Bend received more than a half-inch and Beaver Dam had about 2 inches, it said.

Agriculture experts said rains will definitely help corn that hasn't matured yet.

Dry weather, though, has slowed pasture growth and forced some farmers to begin feeding hay bales, according to the report.

In Wisconsin the corn crop is rated as 18% excellent; 43% good; 27% fair; 9% poor; 3% very poor.

The soybean crop in the state is rated as 15% excellent; 49% good; 26% fair; 7% poor; 3% very poor.

The situation with pastureland in the state is 3% excellent; 25% good; 36% fair; 28% poor; 8% very poor.

Nationally, 68% of the corn crop is rated good to excellent and 67% of the soybean crop is rated good to excellent, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $47.4 billion in 2008, followed by soybeans at $27.4 billion, government data show.

Wisconsin farmers harvested nearly $1.4 billion worth of corn in 2008 and nearly $512 million worth of soybeans, according to federal statistics.