REGION UPDATES
REGION V
Jim Steinbeisser
The West is known for its weather extremes. Severe storms occur both in winter and summer. For that matter, spring and fall are not immune to Mother Nature’ s antics either. Our weather events have as big of an impact on our financial bottom line as cattle markets, maybe even greater.
A ranch’ s management plans must include plans for drought and severe storms, or they will likely find themselves financially unsustainable. We all probably know of an outfit or two that became insolvent because the weather dealt them a major blow, making them unable to continue.
Wildfires are certainly a result of abnormally dry weather and, when coupled with the wrong political climate( pun intended), it can lay the groundwork for irreversible devastation. We have seen this throughout the West for years, and now we’ re seeing it pop up in the East, too.
With today’ s political climate, hopefully, we can make some real policy changes like opening lands susceptible to fires for grazing, allowing more logging to lower the fuel load, and many more agenda items which NCBA has repeatedly brought to the attention of our federal government.
So far, the weather in Region V this year is all over the place. My area in eastern Montana has been facing several years of belownormal moisture. Some years we even faced severe drought. However, there are also some areas in Montana doing well to varying degrees. It would be accurate to say the same holds true in every state of our region. Generally speaking, I do see a more optimistic long-range forecast for Region V than I did earlier this spring.
Let us pray for favorable weather for all of us this spring and summer.
REGION Vl
By Jeff Young
Drought has expanded and intensified across the Southwest, including parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Hawaii is also experiencing varying degrees of drought. Winter and spring precipitation in the region has varied significantly this year. The northern third of California experienced unusually wet conditions, while central and southern California remained exceptionally dry. In the interior Southwest, including Arizona, southern Nevada, southern Utah and western New Mexico, the winter was remarkably dry. Some areas recorded less than 30 % of average precipitation. Timely rains in much of the area have helped alleviate concerns over forage availability, but the extended drought continues to make the availability of adequate livestock water a major concern.
Above-normal precipitation is likely in the Southwest in the summer due to an expected strong summer monsoon. This could provide some relief to drought affected areas and improve grazing conditions. Overall, while there may be some improvement in grazing conditions due to the monsoon
precipitation, the ongoing drought and higher temperatures will likely pose challenges for summer grazing in these states. Abovenormal temperatures are favored in the next few months, which will likely impact water resource yields from rapid snowmelt. Higher temperatures increase the evaporative demand, drying out landscapes and vegetation more quickly, leading to a considerable risk of wildfire.
Overall, the combination of persistent drought, higher temperatures and potentially insufficient precipitation suggests the drought conditions in these states will continue to be severe, impacting summer grazing. Ranchers will need to prepare for these challenging conditions and consider strategies to mitigate the impacts on their operations.
REGION Vll
By Phil Perry
Hello from northeast Kansas; we were asked to give a weather and forage / feed supply report for our region this quarter.
Things are really looking good where I’ m located; our grass has really taken off. When we were checking cows the other evening, the cows are slicking off and the calves were ringing their tails from too much good milk. Winter gave us a couple rough spots with cold and more snow than normal but I think that heavy wet snow has really helped our pastures.
Last summer, we raised a lot of feed and there is more hay left around here than I’ ve seen in quite some time. I hope that also means some of the plains have caught some moisture; the past several years a lot of our hay has left the area.
I was able to contact a fellow producer from North Dakota, and he said they were in pretty good shape in the eastern part but the western half of the state was awfully dry. He also mentioned they had raised a lot of forage last summer, and the winter was pretty open so they had some carry over feed supplies.
I pulled up the U. S. drought monitor, and it showed most of South Dakota and Nebraska were in some kind of a drought situation. Some areas are in extreme drought situations.
Hang in there pards, and just remember timing has a lot to do with a successful rain dance!
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