Drought and Cattle Inventory

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey on drought coverage for us, cattle, and hay inventory for the period ending July 29.

“Cattle and hay numbers for the month of July. First of all, with the diminishing drought across the Great Plains that has really put a dent in the amount of cattle inventory that is experiencing drought. Obviously, we're still seeing impacts in the cattle industry from drought that lasted for much of 2020, through 2024, but at present, cattle inventory in drought for the US only 14% at the end of July, and then hay production area in drought at 18% so really we are at multi-year lows. You really have to go back into the late 2010 specifically 2019 to find a time when we have seen consistently low numbers for several months during the growing season.”

How does that compare to drought conditions in previous weeks?

“Not much change overall hay production area in drought down two percentage points during the month of July, from 20 to 18% and then the US cattle inventory in drought, going from 18% of the inventory in drought on July 1 down to 14% of the US cattle inventory in drought toward the end of July.”

As for drought conditions in general, across the country,

“We have just a shade over 31% of the continental United States in drought.”

Rippey notes that a majority of the drought is in the Pacific Northwest.