It’s finally April and we here at Livestock Wx are excited to finally say adios to winter and get ready for all the fun spring weather.  In anticipation of the growing season, we thought it would be good to start a grazing preview for the major cattle producing states.  This week, we’re starting with Texas and more specifically the Texas Panhandle and the Rolling Plains.  We will add more regions and states in the coming weeks.

In some ways, the Panhandle and Rolling Plains are still recovering from last year’s drought, which clung to the region from the fall 2017 through spring 2018.

“I would say a resounding yes. The Panhandle is in much better shape now than they were then. They received a good rain last week [week of: March 25^th] which further reduced their drought status. (see the comparison of the U.S. Drought Monitor below)  Having said that, they can ALWAYS use more rain up there,” said Clark B. Neely, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Extension Small Grains and Oilseed Specialist at Texas A & M AgriLife Extension.    

Portions of the High Plains (around Amarillo, Texas) began drying out during the winter months, and Neely said some cattle were pulled off of wheat fields early, from limited moisture.