The rain received across much of the Midwest this past week was not only evident in the Drought Monitor, but also in pasture and rangeland conditions from USDA’s Crop Progress Report.
Improvements were seen especially in Nebraska where parts of the state had been facing extreme dryness. Conditions there improved 9 points in the good to excellent category.
Meanwhile, Kansas and the Dakotas increased by just 1 point for the better.
Ohio and even Kentucky saw poor pasture conditions worsen, with Ohio now rating only 2% good to excellent and Kentucky rating 27%.
Overall the United States is currently rating only 25% good to excellent, that is 11 points lower than the same time last year. Nationally, 45% of pasture and rangeland is rated poor to very poor.
