Moisture Lifts Pasture Ratings in West

REDFIELD, Iowa (DTN) -- Pasture and range conditions across the country changed little overall during the past week, although modest improvements were reported in several drought-stricken areas, according to the weekly USDA NASS Crop Progress report. States receiving recent moisture generally saw conditions improve, while the driest regions continued to report a large share of pastures rated very poor to poor.

Oklahoma and Arizona posted some of the largest weekly improvements. Oklahoma reduced its share of pasture and range rated very poor to poor by 10 percentage points, although 56% of acreage remains in that category. Arizona improved 12 percentage points, lowering its very-poor-to-poor rating to 31%. Conditions also improved at the upper end of the ratings scale. Oklahoma increased its good-to-excellent acreage by 4 percentage points to 13% while Arizona gained 3 percentage points to reach 46%.

Other beef cow states have seen some improvement in pasture and range conditions as well. Texas had a 2-percentage-point improvement in good-to-excellent pastures to move to 18% of the state in this category, and also a 4-percentage-point improvement in very-poor-to-poor pasture and range to bring 48% in this area.

A few beef states saw pasture and range conditions declining or remain basically unchanged. Missouri lost 3 percentage points in the good-to-excellent category, which fell to 28%, while pasture rated very poor to poor increased 5 percentage points to 41%.

Nebraska was unchanged in the good-to-excellent category but saw a 1-percentage-point decline in the very-poor-to-poor pastures. Nearly half the state's pasture and range, 48%, remains in that category.

DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said most areas east of the Rocky Mountains will continue to enjoy warm and dry conditions under high pressure this week. "This weather should allow for widespread fieldwork and allow pastures to use up some of the recent heavy rain," he said. "However, a system moving through the West will move northeast into the Northern Plains on Friday and produce scattered showers there."

He continued, "The system will move north into the Canadian Prairies for the weekend and stretch out a cold front from the Southern Plains into the Upper Midwest where some showers will likely develop."

Dry weather is expected to remain for many areas east of the Mississippi River. "These conditions are not a concern for many areas across the north. However, for dry areas around the Delta and parts of the Southeast, drought conditions are likely to grow, which could hurt conditions in those areas," Baranick said.

Nationally, pasture and range conditions showed slight improvement from the previous week. The share rated very poor to poor declined, while acreage in fair and good conditions increased slightly across the lower 48 states.

	Very poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
48 States	19	26	32	19	4
Previous week	21	27	30	18	4
Previous year	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

Jennifer Carrico can be reached at jennifer.carrico@dtn.com

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