Pasture Conditions Improve Nationally, Hold In The NW

Thanks to rains showers over the past couple of weeks, east of the Rockies, pasture and rangeland conditions nationwide have improved.

“We have seen the good-to-excellent ratings jumping to 46% and is up three percentage points from last week and at this point only 28% rated very poor-to-poor," said USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "That is down three points from last week, so it takes a while sometimes for the rain to be manifested in terms of better pasture conditions, but we are certainly seeing that trend at this time.”

The West Remains Dry

While pasture and rangeland conditions in the easter two-thirds of the country look good, a handful of western states are driving the very poor to poor ratings.

“In particular, Montana still, even with the rain that we have seen recently, it may take a while for that to be manifested in better pasture conditions. At the moment, we're still at 46% very poor-to-poor,” Rippey added.

Meanwhile here in the Northwest: 

• 69% of Idaho’s pasture is rated good-to-excellent, with 4% rated very poor-to-poor
• In Washington, 51% of the state’s rangeland is good-to-excellent, with 9% very poor-to-poor
• 50% of Oregon’s pasture is rated good-to-excellent, with 26% considered very poor-to-poor

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