Winter is the Best Time to Have a Drought, Says South Dakota Cattleman

Minimal snowfall this winter has nearly 60% of South Dakota in a D1 moderate drought, while the remainder of the state’s drought conditions are D2 severe or greater, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data.

Faulkton, South Dakota

Although drought conditions continue to impact the state, Troy Hadrick, a fifth generation cow/calf producer in Faulkton, South Dakota, said he doesn’t complain much about drought in the winter months. A dry winter helps stretch feed supplies on his operation, Hadrick said.

When it comes to feed supplies, Hadrick said he had two good cuttings of hay last summer out of the three he planted. Hadrick said his first hay cutting was really good, and he had a surprisingly good third cutting of hay after his second cutting “was hardly worth going after.” The success of the third cutting was a result of some late summer rains in August, he said.

Hadrick said that his operation received 0.25 inches of rain on Sept. 18, 2024 before things dried out over the fall months. So far, over the winter months, he said they haven’t received more than 6 inches of snow all winter. 

“If we had gotten a bad winter I would’ve been hurting. We had cows out grazing for quite a while on some cover crops,” Hadrick said. “We didn’t have to start feeding until after Thanksgiving.” 

Hadrick said his operation is going to need some “early, consistent rain” this year to alleviate drought conditions and help him have a good hay year. “I’m going to blow through most of [the hay] I put up,” Hadrick said, noting that he’s gone through some of his feed reserves.

While he’s hoping for rain in the spring, currently, Hadrick said having a significant snowfall event “wouldn’t benefit us as much as you’d think.” He said, because the ground is frozen, “if we were to get a bunch of snow now it wouldn’t soak in. We’re going to need some rain this spring when the ground thaws.”

Pierre, South Dakota

Kory Bierle, another fifth generation cattleman from Pierre, South Dakota, said it’s not unusual for his part of the state “to go two months without much moisture. We’re always just two weeks away from a drought no matter how wet it is.”

About three years ago, Bierle said he started tracking precipitation on his ranch through a weather station that was administered by South Dakota State University and funded by the Army Corps of Engineers to help monitor water flow into the Missouri River System. Bierle said the weather station allows him to help share data about how dry conditions are in his part of the state.

This winter, Bierle said he did start feeding hay earlier than expected on his operation. “We started feeding hay at the end of December,” he said. “We typically feed hay towards the end of January.”

Bierle is planning to cull a few calves because he expects to have barely enough hay to get through the winter. 

Leola, South Dakota

Craig Bieber, the vice president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association and a seedstock operator from Leola, South Dakota, said “the best time to have a drought [in South Dakota] is in the winter, because our feeding costs are dramatically lower when we don’t have much snow.”

The drought monitor map for South Dakota shows that 58% of the state is in D1 moderate drought conditions. Thirty-three percent is in D2 severe drought, and the remaining 9% of the state is in D3 extreme drought.

Overall, Bieber said South Dakota’s cattlemen and women haven’t been struggling as a result of the drought conditions statewide. However, he said there are plenty of concerns about whether or not there will be enough rain this spring. “If it doesn’t start to rain that causes issues with poor pasture conditions and water conditions.”