McCone County, Montana
Lower Missouri River plains · Circle · Fort Peck Reservoir arm and Redwater River · 90 mi NW of Glendive
- Check current snowpack, drought, streamflow, and soil moisture before stocking, hay buying, or destocking.
- See where McCone 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 5 brand inspector and verify cattle-buyer bonds before consigning.
Snowpack · SWE
No SNOTEL stations in this county. Basin-index snowpack not tracked.
Water-Year Precip
Water-year precip index not tracked for this county.
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
No real-time USGS gauge in this county.
Soil Moisture
No Montana Mesonet soil-moisture station in this county.
Precip Anomaly
NOAA NCEI precip anomaly data unavailable.
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 10-year normal precipitation for that trailing window. Trailing calendar windows ending today, 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 Score. 0–100 composite that blends snowpack, soil moisture, and drought into one rancher-facing number. Categories: 0–25 Poor, 26–50 Fair, 51–75 Good, 76–100 Excellent.
McCone County in context
Adjacent counties in the the Redwater and Fort Peck corridor. McCone County shares the upper Missouri reservoir system with these neighbors.
Click any neighbor for its full county dashboard.
Snowpack & Moisture Detail
SNOTEL station-by-station read for McCone County. The dashboard above gives current aggregate; this section shows where the water actually is.
McCone County’s surface water picture is defined by Fort Peck Reservoir on its northern edge and the Redwater River flowing south through the county toward the Yellowstone. Neither source originates in McCone — both depend on upstream snowpack in the Little Rockies, Bearpaws, and Rocky Mountain front far to the west. Local stock dams supplement river-based sources across the interior plains. [needs editorial] — update with current SNOTEL data each season.
Basin Index: Redwater River and Fort Peck Reservoir pool levels reflect upstream Missouri system snowpack; local runoff is minimal on the flat plains. [needs editorial — update seasonally] Drought Monitor: [needs editorial — update weekly from droughtmonitor.unl.edu] Station snapshot as of June 2026 — live dashboard above is current.
Water Rights & Land Ownership
McCone County drains into the Missouri system via the Redwater River, which passes through Circle before joining the Yellowstone near Glendive, and via direct Fort Peck Reservoir tributaries on the north.
The Redwater River carries the county’s primary surface water rights, with senior appropriations dating to the early 1900s used for stock water and limited flood irrigation of hay ground near Circle. Fort Peck Reservoir, impounded in the 1930s, is a federal project operated by the Army Corps of Engineers; reservoir pool access for stock is generally available but not a senior water right in the traditional sense. Irrigation is limited compared to Dawson County to the east; most hay production relies on sub-irrigation in Redwater bottoms. Drought years see the Redwater drop sharply by July, stressing junior rights holders first. Secondary stock water comes from earthen dams across the gently rolling plains interior. No major irrigation district serves McCone County.
Production & Sales
Operation character, hay base, and how cattle reach market from McCone County.
Cattle production
McCone runs a mix of cow-calf and yearling stocker operations, with most outfits in the 150–400 head range. The Redwater River bottoms support some smaller operations with hay base, while larger outfits on the open plains run more extensive range programs. Some operators trail or truck to summer BLM pasture. Calf sales typically route to Glendive or Miles City in fall.
Hay & winter feed
Native grass and alfalfa mixed hay from Redwater River bottoms is the primary local source, with flood irrigation off the river the dominant system. Cutting runs late July into August. Most large operators supplement with purchased hay. Hay outlook tied to Redwater flows through late June irrigation season. [draft — verify against current conditions]
Logistics · sale barns & trucking
Glendive Livestock Exchange is the closest major sale barn, roughly 90 miles southeast on MT-200. Circle on US-200 is the county seat and primary supply hub. Trucking to Billings runs about 3 hours. Limited rail access; most livestock movement is by truck via US-200.
McCone 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 | 2,451 | 13.3% |
| South Dakota | 1,943 | 10.5% |
| Iowa | 1,668 | 9% |
| North Dakota | 1,284 | 6.9% |
| Wyoming | 626 | 3.4% |
When McCone 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.
Montana Brand Inspector
District Investigator: Robin O'Neill
Phone: (406) 989-0017
District 18 covers: Prairie, Dawson, Richland, McCone
MT DOL Brand Enforcement (general): (406) 444-2045 · brands@mt.gov
Most current and complete roster (incl. local brand inspectors and shipping-point coordinators): MT DOL — Find a Brand Inspector
Cattle Buyers — Montana Licensed
Cattle buyers and dealers operating in McCone County are licensed at the federal and state level, not by individual county. Use the authoritative current rosters below to find an active, bonded buyer for your sale class. Both lists update continuously as bonds and licenses change — they are always more current than any printed roster.
- USDA Packers & Stockyards Bonded Registrant Search — federally bonded MT dealers, market agencies, and packer-buyers. Filter by state “Montana”: USDA P&S Bonded Registrant Search
- Montana Department of Livestock — Licensed Livestock Dealers — state-licensed dealers operating in Montana: MT DOL — Livestock Dealer License
Before consigning cattle to any buyer, verify the buyer’s bond status on the USDA P&S registrant search above. A current bond is your protection against non-payment.