Rain Boosts Pastures

By DTN Staff

OMAHA (DTN) -- Moisture in areas of cow-calf country has led to continual improvements in pasture and range conditions, according to the latest Crop Progress report from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Some areas saw shifts in pasture conditions over the past week, but improvements have been seen overall, especially in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. Texas added 10 points to the good-and-excellent pasture and range conditions category, boosting it to 60%. There was also a 14-point improvement in the very-poor-to-poor category, reducing the portion of Texas's pasture and range in that category to 18%.

Colorado now has 65% in the good-to-excellent category, a 14-point improvement. The state also saw a 5-point improvement in the very-poor-to-poor category to now only 14%.

New Mexico saw the most improvement with a 15-point increase in the good-to-excellent category to 54% and a 9-point decrease in the very-poor-to-poor category to 26%.

DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said the scattered showers across the Northern Plains, Southern Plains and Midwest over the holiday weekend helped several areas. He expects the scattered rainy weather to continue throughout this week in many areas. While beneficial for pastures and range, it could lead to challenges for farmers and ranchers who are trying to get hay baled.

Miguel Castillo, a forage specialist with North Carolina State University Extension, said weather is the most unpredictable variable to deal with when making hay.

"Very little can be done to the plant or swath to improve drying rates if the environmental conditions are not conducive to moisture loss," he said. "Favorable conditions for hay production include high temperature, high solar radiation, and moderate wind speed, in conjunction with low air relative humidity and low soil moisture."

He suggested planning ahead for several continuous days of dry weather conditions and then preparing for changes if they occur.

Castillo said the drying rate is faster at the beginning of the drying process but slows down. If the humidity is greater than 70%, moisture loss will stop even if temperatures are high. Proper drying and curing prior to baling are key to preventing nutrient loss.

Nevada and Arizona continue to have the worst conditions with 90% and 86%, respectively, in the very-poor-to-poor category. Montana saw a 12-point increase in the very-poor-to-poor category to 59%, while only 9% of the state's pastures and range were rated good to excellent.

See the accompanying maps for more on the changes in various states.

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National Pasture and Range Conditions (48 states)

	Very poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
48 States	11	16	28	32	13
Previous week	12	17	28	31	12
Previous year	9	16	31	36	8

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