Custer County, Montana

Overview

Custer County is a major southeastern Montana cattle county anchored by Miles City — one of the historic cattle towns of the American West and still one of Montana’s most important regional livestock markets. The Yellowstone River flows west-to-east across the county; the Tongue River and Powder River add significant secondary drainage. Custer County is home to the USDA Agricultural Research Service Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory (established 1924), the premier federal research station for Northern Great Plains rangeland science and the oldest continuously-operating beef cattle research center in the United States.

Weather & Moisture

Custer County has no NRCS SNOTEL stations within its borders — this is short-grass prairie country. Water supply is driven by Yellowstone River mainstem flows (carrying upstream snowpack from the Absaroka and Beartooth ranges east through Park, Sweet Grass, and Yellowstone counties), Tongue River flows (partly regulated by Tongue River Reservoir near the MT-WY border), and Powder River flows. The USGS gauge at Yellowstone River at Miles City is the primary mainstem signal. The Powder River near Locate gauge also falls within Custer County.

Water Rights & Land Ownership

Custer County water rights center on the Yellowstone River mainstem, the Tongue River (subject to a compact among Montana, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Wyoming), and the Powder River. Yellowstone mainstem diversions support irrigated hay and row-crop operations in the valley; Tongue River diversions support operations upstream of Miles City. Montana DNRC WRQS and Cadastral provide parcel-level research tools.

Hay & Winter Feed

Irrigated alfalfa and grass hay along the Yellowstone and Tongue River bottomlands form the backbone of Custer County’s feed base. Given the county’s cattle-dominant economy, hay is a critical input rather than a cash crop — most hay produced here is consumed locally.

Cattle Production

Custer County is one of the most important cattle-origin counties in Montana. Miles City Livestock Commission is one of the state’s largest sale barns, drawing consignments from a multi-county region across southeast Montana and northern Wyoming. Fort Keogh’s substantial research herds add to the county’s cattle base and provide a nationally-recognized science pipeline for range management, grazing behavior, and cow-calf efficiency. The annual Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is a long-running cultural and commercial fixture of the western cattle calendar.

County Logistics

Miles City sits on Interstate 94 approximately 140 miles east of Billings and 80 miles west of Glendive. I-94 is the primary east-west artery, connecting the county to the Billings market complex and to North Dakota cattle flows. US-12 branches southeast toward Baker. Trucking access is excellent by eastern Montana standards, making Miles City the natural aggregation point for southeast Montana feeder cattle.

Data Sources

• USDA NRCS National Water and Climate Center — no in-county SNOTEL (plains county)
• USDA Drought Monitor — weekly county drought classification
• USGS Water Services — Yellowstone River at Miles City (06309000) daily discharge
• Montana Mesonet (UMT) — soil moisture (Miles City, Fort Keogh N/SE/SW, and others)
• NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance — county precipitation anomaly (1/3/12 month)
• USDA NASS — county cattle inventory and agricultural census
• USDA ARS Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory — regional research station