US Drought Monitor: Parched conditions expand across Dakotas.
About 87 percent of North Dakota is in drought, while just more than half of South Dakota is experiencing drought conditions, according to updated monitoring information released Thursday.
The parched conditions have expanded and deteriorated compared to last week, and roughly 700,000 people across both states are living in drought areas.
There have also been significant winter wheat losses in central South Dakota, she said, adding that she doesn’t anticipate conditions will improve in the near term.
“The drought’s pretty bad, I’d say, especially in the agricultural sector, which is often where we see the first impacts,” Edwards said.
Selling calves now that would get a good price this fall means producers will likely take a hit on the animals’ value, said Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association.
“We’ve seen that over the last few years.
But I think we can’t discount the toll that this kind of a drought takes on our agriculture community and what it’s going to do to a lot of our neighbors and friends here across the state this year, if this drought doesn’t break.” Terry Beastrom, who farms mostly in Stanley county in South Dakota, said he’s leaning toward destroying nearly all of his wheat and hopes to turn most of it into cattle feed.
In North Dakota, drought conditions have the potential to cause future feed shortages, said Scott Ressler, environmental services director for the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, which represents the cattle industry.
Producers are selling older cattle because, without precipitation, some pastures aren’t going to be able to support as many animals as they normally do, he said.