Powell County, Montana
West-central Montana · Deer Lodge · Clark Fork River corridor · US-12 connects to Missoula 60 miles west
- Check current snowpack, drought, streamflow, and soil moisture before stocking, hay buying, or destocking.
- See where Powell 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
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.
Powell County in context
Adjacent counties in the the Clark Fork corridor. Powell County shares the Flint Creek and Garnet Range snowpack with these neighbors.
Click any neighbor for its full county dashboard.
Snowpack & Moisture Detail
SNOTEL station-by-station read for Powell County. The dashboard above gives current aggregate; this section shows where the water actually is.
Powell County snowpack is at or above median at all 1 reporting stations as of June 04, 2026. One SNOTEL station monitors county snowpack. Powell County watershed snowpack near or above normal (N Fk Elk Creek 117% of median).
| Station | Elev (ft) | SWE (in) | % of Median | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N Fk Elk Creek | 6,180 | 0.0 | 117% | Powell County — elevation 6180 ft |
Basin Index: Powell County watershed snowpack near or above normal (N Fk Elk Creek 117% of median). Drought Monitor (valid 2026-06-02): D0 Abnormally Dry across 12% of county. Total area in drought: 12% (valid 2026-06-02). Station snapshot as of June 04, 2026 — live dashboard above is current.
Two-Week Rainfall
Observed (prior 14 days) and forecast (next 14 days) · Powell County · as of 2026-06-04
| Period | Window | Rain (in) | Normal (in) | % of Normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prior 2 weeks (observed) | May 21 – Jun 3, 2026 | 1.10 | 1.49 | 74% |
| Next 2 weeks (forecast) | Jun 4 – Jun 17, 2026 | 1.22 | 1.56 | 78% |
Observed detail: 6 measurable-rain day(s) in the prior two weeks; largest single day 0.59 in.
Water Rights & Land Ownership
The Clark Fork River drains the Powell County valley floor from the Deer Lodge narrows westward through the Warm Springs bottoms. Key confluences include Flint Creek entering near Warm Springs and the Little Blackfoot River joining near Garrison.
The Clark Fork system through Powell County supports irrigated hay and pasture on approximately 50,000 acres of valley floor, with water rights dating to the 1860s–1880s placer mining and early ranching era. Senior rights holders have priority through most summers, but the river is effectively over-appropriated below Warm Springs during drought years. The Anaconda Superfund legacy affects lower Clark Fork water quality but not primary agricultural diversions above Warm Springs. Secondary sources include the Little Blackfoot River drainage and direct-from-ditch systems off the Flint Creek drainage near Drummond. Well-water supplements are common on bench ground above the valley floor. Smaller creeks off the Garnet Range on the north side of the valley provide limited irrigation for operations on the north bench.
Production & Sales
Operation character, hay base, and how cattle reach market from Powell County.
Cattle production
Powell County cattle operations are predominantly cow-calf with some backgrounding on valley floor irrigated pasture and Forest Service summer range on the Flint Creek and Garnet ranges. The Deer Lodge valley floor has a mix of 200–800 cow operations; larger ranches run yearlings on Forest Service allotments through summer before weaning and shipping in October. Several operations background calves through winter on stockpiled forage and hay, selling feeder cattle in spring. The presence of Deerlodge National Forest allotments is central to the production model — allotment conditions directly affect stocking rates and fall body condition scores.
Hay & winter feed
Irrigated timothy-brome and alfalfa-grass mixes dominate valley floor hay production; pure alfalfa is limited by altitude and frost risk at the 4,700-foot valley elevation. First cut typically runs late May to mid-June; second cut late July if water holds. Most operations put up 2.0–2.5 tons per acre in average years; dry years drop to 1.5 or below on the second cutting. On-farm hay storage is heavy here — most operations winter cattle without purchased feed in normal years.
Logistics · sale barns & trucking
Primary livestock shipping moves via I-90 through Deer Lodge town. The Missoula livestock auction (Western Livestock/Missoula Stockyards area) is 60 miles west on I-90 and handles most fall run cattle. Some operators truck to Billings (240 miles east) for heavier feeder markets. US-12 east over McDonald Pass connects to Helena and District 10 brand inspection. Seasonal road weight limits on county roads affect spring trucking out of bottom-ground operations.
Powell 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 | 3,317 | 18.1% |
| Minnesota | 1,626 | 8.9% |
| Iowa | 1,452 | 7.9% |
| South Dakota | 1,423 | 7.8% |
| Wyoming | 937 | 5.1% |
When Powell 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: Ty Hultman
Phone: (406) 439-2890
District 25 covers: Lewis and Clark, Granite, Silver Bow, Powell, Deer Lodge, Jefferson, Chouteau
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 Powell 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.