Jefferson County, Montana
Southwest Montana · Boulder · Jefferson River and Boulder River drainages · I-15 corridor between Butte and Bozeman
- Check current snowpack, drought, streamflow, and soil moisture before stocking, hay buying, or destocking.
- See where Jefferson County calves moved in 2023 — destinations, seasonal pattern, and shipping windows.
- Look up water rights, parcels, and ownership via Cadastral, DNRC WRQS, and WaterMapper.
- Reach the District 10 brand inspector and verify cattle-buyer bonds before consigning.
Snowpack · SWE
Snow Water Equivalent — water that would result if today’s snowpack melted now.
Water-Year Precip
Total precipitation since Oct 1 — the start of the NRCS water year.
Drought Monitor
Worst drought class anywhere in the county per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
D0 abnormally dry · D1 moderate · D2 severe · D3 extreme · D4 exceptional. Percentages = share of county area at or worse than each class.
Streamflow
Cubic feet per second flowing past the nearest in-county USGS gauge right now.
Soil Moisture
No Montana Mesonet soil-moisture station in this county.
Precip Anomaly
Inches above (+) or below (−) the 1901–2000 average for the latest completed 1-, 3- and 12-month periods (NOAA NCEI, monthly data) — not the water year (see the separate Water-Year Precip tile for that).
1-mo = last 30 days · 3-mo = last 90 days · 12-mo = trailing year.
12-mo bands: > +1″ wet · −0.5″ to +1″ near normal · −2″ to −0.5″ dry · < −2″ very dry.
Reading this dashboard — what these terms mean
Median vs. mean. We use the median (NRCS standard) so a single very-wet or very-dry year doesn’t skew the baseline.
Water year. Hydrology runs Oct 1 → Sep 30. Most of a year’s snowpack accumulation is captured in the same season it melts.
Percentile (streamflow). 50 = exactly typical for this calendar date. 19 = today’s flow is lower than 81 % of all readings ever recorded on this date. 81 = lower than only 19 %.
VWC (soil moisture). Volumetric Water Content. Rough field bands: under 10 % = dry, 15–25 % = productive growing-season range, over 35 % = saturated.
Drought scale. D0–D4 from the U.S. Drought Monitor, weekly Thursday release. The percentages tell you what fraction of county area is at or worse than each band — a county can be 100 % at D2 with 0 % at D3.
Precip anomaly. Inches above or below the 1901–2000 average for the latest completed 1-, 3- and 12-month periods (NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance, monthly data). Not the water year — the Water-Year Precip tile is the water-year measure. Anomaly is in inches; “% of median” is a ratio. Both useful; anomaly is easier to interpret when comparing a dry summer month to a wet spring month.
Forage Condition. A 0–100 county-scale index of rangeland forage conditions relative to this county’s own historical normal, blending satellite-observed vegetation response, growing-season moisture, drought stress, and usability. Higher = more favorable relative to local normal. Categories: 0–25 Poor, 26–50 Fair, 51–75 Good, 76–100 Excellent. Long-Term Forage Potential is a separate long-run rating, not part of the score. Beta — for regional screening and comparison, not a pasture-level forage inventory or stocking-rate recommendation.
How often this updates. The moisture and drought tiles (snowpack, streamflow, soil moisture, rain, water-year precip, drought class) refresh every morning. The Forage Condition score’s satellite vegetation read — and the separate Hay & Pasture read — refresh weekly (Mondays), because the underlying satellite imagery only updates on a ~16-day cycle. So the water tiles move day to day; the vegetation reads step forward about once a week.
Jefferson County in context
Adjacent counties in the the Jefferson River and Three Forks corridor. Jefferson County shares the Elkhorn and Boulder Batholith snowpack with these neighbors.
Click any neighbor for its full county dashboard.
Snowpack & Moisture Detail
SNOTEL station-by-station read for Jefferson County. The dashboard above gives current aggregate; this section shows where the water actually is.
Jefferson County snowpack is near or above median at higher elevations; lower stations well below at the last spring reading (June 4, 2026). Snowpack has since melted out for the season, so this section shows how the 2026 snow season ended, not current conditions. Three SNOTEL stations monitor county snowpack. Jefferson County watershed snowpack moderately below normal (county avg 82% of median); highest at Rocker Peak (97%), lowest at Frohner Meadow (73%).
| Station | Elev (ft) | SWE (in) | % of Median | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frohner Meadow | 6,520 | 0.0 | 73% | Jefferson County — elevation 6520 ft |
| Tizer Basin | 6,880 | 0.0 | 75% | Jefferson County — elevation 6880 ft |
| Rocker Peak | 7,960 | 0.0 | 97% | Jefferson County — elevation 7960 ft |
Basin Index: Jefferson County watershed snowpack moderately below normal (county avg 82% of median); highest at Rocker Peak (97%), lowest at Frohner Meadow (73%). Drought Monitor (valid 2026-11-10): No drought (D1+) in the county. Coverage at or worse than each class: D0 0%, D1 0%, D2 0%, D3 0%, D4 0%. Station snapshot as of November 13, 2026 — live dashboard above is current.
Two-Week Rainfall
Observed (prior 14 days) and forecast (next 14 days) · Jefferson County · as of 2026-11-13
| Period | Window | Rain (in) | Normal (in) | % of Normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prior 2 weeks (observed) | Oct 30 – Nov 12, 2026 | 0.00 | 0.55 | 0% |
| Next 2 weeks (forecast) | Nov 13 – Nov 26, 2026 | 0.07 | 0.56 | 12% |
Observed detail: 0 measurable-rain day(s) in the prior two weeks; largest single day 0.00 in.
Forecast source: NWS/NOAA api.weather.gov (days 1–7) blended with Open-Meteo gridded model (days 8–14). The next-14-day total is model-derived — NOAA quantitative precipitation forecast is precise only through ~7 days, and days 8–14 are a model blend, not an observed gauge reading.
Moisture Outlook: 1, 3, 6 and 12 Months
Expected precipitation against the 1991–2020 normal · Jefferson County · NOAA seasonal outlook issued Oct 15, 2026; monthly outlook Oct 31, 2026 · refreshed monthly
| Horizon | Window | Normal (in) | Expected (in) | % of Normal | Lean | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 month | November 2026 | 1.15 | 1.12 | 97% | Slight dry lean | Moderate |
| 3 months | Nov 2026–Jan 2027 | 3.06 | 2.83 | 92% | Leans dry | Low to moderate |
| 6 months | Nov 2026–Apr 2027 | 7.04 | 6.58 | 93% | Slight dry lean | Low |
| 12 months | Nov 2026–Oct 2027 | 17.83 | 16.94 | 95% | Slight dry lean | Very low |
- Odds, November 2026: 36% chance of a drier-than-normal month, 34% near normal, 30% wetter.
- Odds, Nov 2026–Jan 2027: 45% drier than normal, 33% near normal, 22% wetter.
- Temperature: November 2026 leans warmer than normal (55% chance of a warmer-than-normal month); Nov 2026–Jan 2027 leans warmer than normal (45% chance of a warmer-than-normal three months). Warmer weather pulls more moisture out of soil and snowpack.
- Spring growing season (Apr–Jun 2027): these three months normally bring 7.33 in, about 41% of the year’s moisture. NOAA’s early read: 45% drier, 33% near normal, 22% wetter — expected 6.94 in (95% of normal).
How it is built: NOAA Climate Prediction Center outlook odds read across Jefferson County, applied to the county’s 1991–2020 precipitation record (NOAA NCEI). Inches are county-wide averages that include mountain ground, so valley and bench ranches usually receive less; the percent of normal carries over better than the inches. Full method and limits → Prepared by Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI.
Water Rights, Irrigation & Land Ownership
The Jefferson River enters Jefferson County from Madison County near Waterloo and flows northeast to the Three Forks confluence with the Madison and Gallatin rivers. The Boulder River is the primary internal tributary, draining the Boulder Batholith before joining the Jefferson near Cardwell.
The Jefferson River is one of the most over-appropriated streams in Montana relative to average flow — diversion rights significantly exceed natural flow in dry years, triggering Water Court priority administration. Senior rights dating to the 1860s–1870s placer mining era are dominant on the Jefferson mainstem; junior irrigators face curtailment in any year with below-average snowpack. The Boulder River supports a secondary agricultural zone around Boulder town (county seat); rights are slightly less senior on average and flows are more variable due to the smaller, steeper catchment. The Elkhorn Mountain drainages (Prickly Pear Creek headwaters, Clarkston Creek) support limited bench irrigation. Three Forks area bottom ground at the Missouri confluence is productive but rights are complex and often involves mixed Jefferson and Gallatin River right portfolios. Stock water for upland operations depends heavily on seasonal springs and developed stock ponds in the Elkhorn country.
Federal Grazing Leases
BLM and U.S. Forest Service permitted grazing on public-land allotments · Jefferson County
| System | Allotments | Permitted use | Public acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLM | 68 | 7,157 AUMs | 85,449 |
| U.S. Forest Service | 30 | 25,054 head-months | 407,788 |
AUMs (BLM) and head-months (USFS) are both animal-unit-months — one animal grazing for one month, the standard measure of authorized use. Acres are BLM public acres and USFS GIS acres on the mapped allotments.
Statewide maps: BLM allotment map · Forest Service allotment map. Excludes Montana DNRC state-trust grazing leases.
Land Resources
Three independent estimates of how Jefferson County’s land is used — shown side by side, never blended
Every acreage figure below comes from an independent source that measures the land a different way. We show them side by side — and never blend reported acreage, satellite pixels and tax classifications into one unexplained number. Total county area 1,060,478 acres · land in farms 454,324 acres (43% of the county).
🗺 Open the interactive land map for Jefferson County →
See crops, range, irrigated fields, public land and ownership parcels drawn live on the map.
Principal crops — official vs. satellite
| Crop | USDA Census 2022 (acres harvested) | Satellite CDL 2023 (acres present) |
|---|---|---|
| Winter wheat | withheld | 6,662 |
| Spring wheat | withheld | 498 |
| Barley | withheld | 1,066 |
| Corn | withheld | 184 |
| Alfalfa hay | 17,304 | 12,555 |
| Other hay | 7,687 | 8,750 |
| Dry peas | — | 52 |
| Chickpeas | — | 58 |
These columns measure different things, so they should not match. The Census counts acres actually harvested in the census year, as reported by producers; the Cropland Data Layer counts every acre the satellite saw in that crop, including fields in a crop–fallow rotation and stands not harvested. Winter wheat is the clearest example: much of the county’s wheat ground sits in fallow in any given year, so the satellite total runs well above harvested acres. CDL also over-attributes hay and forage on native range. “Withheld” means the Census suppressed the value to protect an individual operation’s privacy.
How the county’s acres classify
| Land class | USDA Census 2022 | Satellite CDL 2023 | DOR assessment 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cropland (total) | 44,778 | 32,962 | 46,210 |
| of which harvested | 29,294 | — | — |
| Irrigated land | 30,297 | — | 22,640 |
| Pasture & rangeland | 375,356 | 455,101 | 276,521 |
| Forest / woodland | 30,155 | 547,832 | 511,892 |
| Developed | — | 15,570 | — |
| Water & wetlands | — | 8,821 | — |
Three ways of counting the same ground. Census figures are producer-reported acres in farms; the satellite column is a wall-to-wall pixel classification of the whole county (so it also sees developed land, water and non-farm ground the others do not); the assessment column is the Montana Department of Revenue’s parcel-level tax classification (CAMA), which is why its cropland total tracks the Census closely while the satellite tends to run higher. Developed and open-water rows come only from the satellite. Where they disagree, no single number is “wrong” — they are measuring different things.
Irrigated land, three independent ways
30,297 USDA Census harvested irrigated cropland, 2022 | 42,914 DNRC mapped remote-sensed irrigated extent | 22,640 DOR assessed tax classification, 2026 |
The single most important acreage figure for a cattle operation, and the three sources genuinely differ. The Census counts acres actually irrigated and harvested in the census year; the Montana DOR figure is what is classified and taxed as irrigated; the DNRC mapping captures the full remote-sensed irrigated extent, including ground that carries irrigation but was idle or in another use that year — so it usually reads highest. We publish all three rather than pick one.
What each estimate means
- USDA Census of Agriculture — producer-reported, the official record. Highly credible, but taken every five years and suppressed in counties where a value would identify a single operation.
- Satellite (Cropland Data Layer) — USDA’s annual, wall-to-wall satellite classification. Complete county coverage every year, but it infers crops from imagery, so it mislabels some ground and over-calls hay and forage on native range.
- Tax / assessment — Montana Department of Revenue parcel-level classification from the CAMA assessment roll (2026 tax year), aggregated from the Montana State Library cadastral. Parcel- and ownership-based; a land classification, not an annual crop report.
Sources: USDA NASS Census of Agriculture 2022 (Quick Stats); USDA Cropland Data Layer 2023 (CropScape zonal statistics, USDA-NASS); Montana Department of Revenue CAMA assessment acreage via the MSDI cadastral parcels layer (tax year 2026); Montana DNRC Statewide Irrigation dataset. Prepared by Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI.
Local Help
Verified contacts and official destinations for Jefferson County — not a directory dump, just where to actually call
Extension, USDA, market, brand and diagnostic links go to the official Montana source; the DNRC office and phone are the specific regional office serving this county. Provider directories (veterinarians, feed dealers) will be added only once a repeatable verification standard is in place. Prepared by Dirk Adams with the assistance of AI.
Production & Sales
Operation character, hay base, and how cattle reach market from Jefferson County.
Cattle production
Jefferson County runs primarily cow-calf pairs on a mix of irrigated valley hay ground and dry-land upland pasture. Operation size trends small to medium — 80–300 cows — with limited public-land allotment access relative to western Montana counties. The Boulder Valley supports a cluster of family operations that winter on home hay and summer on leased state and private upland. The Three Forks area has some larger operations backgrounding calves. Proximity to I-15 and Butte has brought land value pressure that has converted some agricultural ground; remaining operators tend to be committed long-term families with paid-off land bases.
Hay & winter feed
Alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixes on Jefferson River bottom ground are the primary hay crop; Boulder Valley produces alfalfa and timothy on irrigated meadows. First cut runs late May to mid-June; second cut is marginal in dry years due to water constraints. Jefferson River bottom alfalfa yields 2.5–3.5 tons per acre in normal water years; Boulder Valley meadow hay averages 1.8–2.5 tons. Some operators supplement with purchased hay from Beaverhead County or the Gallatin Valley when second-cut production falls short.
Logistics · sale barns & trucking
Boulder (US-69 and I-15) is the county seat and primary shipping hub. Butte livestock facilities are 30 miles west on I-15. Bozeman is 55 miles east at Three Forks via I-90; Gallatin Valley Livestock and Montana Livestock at Billings handle the larger fall feeder runs. Brand inspection District 10 (Helena, 45 miles north on I-15). I-15 provides excellent year-round trucking north–south; the Three Forks interchange at I-90 opens east–west access without significant seasonal constraints.
Licensed Processing Plants
No federally inspected or state-inspected processing plant currently operates in Jefferson County — the nearest licensed plants are listed below
Meat from federally inspected and state-inspected plants can be sold; custom-exempt plants are not listed here. Verified August 2026 against the USDA FSIS Meat, Poultry & Egg Product Inspection Directory and the Montana Department of Livestock state plant list (Jan 2026). Grants of inspection change — call before you haul.
Jefferson County — 2023 Cattle Movement
Source: Montana Department of Livestock, BE-10 brand inspections. Released to Honest Cattle under public-records request. BE-10 inspections are recorded at change of ownership or interstate movement, so totals reflect transactions, not the standing herd.
Top destinations outside Montana
| State | Head | Share of county total |
|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 2,546 | 19.4% |
| Minnesota | 1,265 | 9.6% |
| South Dakota | 1,158 | 8.8% |
| Iowa | 522 | 4% |
| Oregon | 258 | 2% |
When Jefferson County cattle moved in 2023
Notes: A single animal can be inspected more than once in a year if it changes hands or moves across state lines twice; destination is the buyer's state of record, which is usually but not always the final feedlot. Inspection county = where the inspection took place (often an auction yard or shipping point), not necessarily where the cattle were raised. Data covers cattle only (BE-10) and excludes horse and bison inspections.