REDFIELD, Iowa (DTN) -- Rainfall in the top beef cow states of Texas and Oklahoma brought improvement in pasture and range conditions.

The improvement was seen in more pastures in the good-to-excellent category and fewer in the very-poor-to-poor category. DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said a disturbance lifted north from Texas through the eastern Plains and western Midwest. "We saw multiple days of heavy showers and thunderstorms that produced some good rainfall and flooding in some areas while others didn't receive any rain," he said.

Nebraska continues to be the concerning area of the country with 80% of the pasture and range still in very-poor-to-poor conditions due to the wildfires and drought. No change was seen on either side of the range quality for these producers.

Wyoming and Montana have been areas of concern for drought and wildfires as well. Some of that area received moisture over the weekend. "A system moved into Montana over the weekend and has stalled. It produced some very heavy rainfall in Montana but coming at a moderate-to-heavy clip," Baranick said. "This should help with any wildfires in Montana and south into Wyoming, though Montana is benefiting the most."

Pasture and range conditions have seen improvement in the High Plains states of Kansas and Colorado. Kansas had a 9% improvement in good-to-excellent pasture conditions and Colorado had a 3% improvement. Each state also saw an improvement in the worst conditions.

The Midwestern states have seen some drier weather to shift pasture conditions a small amount, yet Iowa and Missouri still see over 70% in the good-to-excellent category.

Baranick mentioned the system stalled in the Plains, which is expected to give rain chances through midweek for western Kansas, Colorado, and the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. That system will move eastward later in the week, bringing a cold front into the Midwest over the weekend.

"While drought still covers a lot of cattle country, some relief is expected this week for the drier areas of the Plains and into the Midwest," he said. "Overall, this is a great forecast for livestock producers to boost soil moisture for forages and reservoirs for drinking."

Very little change was seen on the U.S. Drought Monitor map for D4 (exceptional drought) areas, but improvement does continue for the D2 (severe drought) and D3 (extreme drought) areas.

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

Follow her on social platform X @JennCattleGal

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