Parts of the U.S. are reporting very poor to poor pasture and rangeland conditions. U.S. Department of Agriculture Chief Meteorologist Brad Rippey gives a report on conditions across several states.
“Some of our specific numbers coming in this week, we still are seeing some rather low pasture and rangeland conditions in parts of the West and Great Plains,” said Rippey.
“Utah and Wyoming this week, both over 60 percent very poor to poor, and then we have some numbers still above 50 percent very poor to poor in a few other western states and also in the Great Plains, and that includes Idaho as well as South Dakota and Oklahoma. All of those areas have seen rain or even high elevation snow recently, but it is taking time, especially in the north, to get that pasture growth re-established, and we really probably will not realize full benefits of all this late summer and autumn rainfall until we get into the spring of 2027. I also want to point out we’re still struggling in parts of the Mid-South into the Mississippi Delta with dryness. In that region, Arkansas leads with the pastures rated 72 percent very poor to poor,” Rippey added.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.