Dealing with drought conditions for grazing cattle on native range and pasture

The southern Panhandle is in the second consecutive spring of drought conditions. Precipitation September 1 to April 15 for the Southern Nebraska Panhandle is less than half of normal for this time period. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension CropWatch website has weather information that shows precipitation summaries for all of Nebraska. This summary shows recent historic precipitation amounts and compares them to long term averages at locations throughout the Panhandle. Lack of precipitation beginning in the fall of 2011 has resulted in severely depleted soil moisture.

Early...