Prairie County, Montana
Yellowstone River breaks and shortgrass plains · Terry · Powder River confluence and Yellowstone valley · 80 mi E of Miles City
- Check current snowpack, drought, streamflow, and soil moisture before stocking, hay buying, or destocking.
- See where Prairie 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
VWC = Volumetric Water Content — the percent of soil volume that is water. Montana Mesonet probe average.
Shallow ≈ 4″ depth · Deep ≈ 20″ depth.
Bands (shallow + deep average): ≥ 30 % moist · 22–30 % adequate · 15–22 % drying · < 15 % dry.
Precip Anomaly
Inches above (+) or below (−) the 10-year normal precipitation for each trailing window. Calendar rolling windows ending today — 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 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 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 Irrigated 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.
Prairie County in context
Adjacent counties in the the Yellowstone–Powder confluence country. Prairie County shares the Yellowstone upper basin snowpack with these neighbors.
Click any neighbor for its full county dashboard.
Snowpack & Moisture Detail
SNOTEL station-by-station read for Prairie County. The dashboard above gives current aggregate; this section shows where the water actually is.
Prairie County’s water supply is anchored by the Yellowstone River flowing along its southern margin, with Powder River joining the Yellowstone at Terry before the county line. Irrigation rights in the Yellowstone and Powder bottoms support limited hay production, but the vast majority of the county is dryland range where winter snowfall is the only moisture input. Snowpack in the Beartooth and Absaroka ranges far upstream determines Yellowstone summer flows. [needs editorial] — update with current SNOTEL data each season.
Basin Index: Yellowstone River at Terry reflects snowmelt from upstream mountain ranges; Powder River tributary flows are highly variable year to year. [needs editorial — update seasonally] Drought Monitor (valid 2026-06-02): D2 Severe across 40% of county; D1 Moderate across 60% of county. Total area in drought: 100% (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) · Prairie County · as of 2026-06-16
| Period | Window | Rain (in) | Normal (in) | % of Normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prior 2 weeks (observed) | Jun 2 – Jun 15, 2026 | 0.27 | 0.00 | 0% |
| Next 2 weeks (forecast) | Jun 16 – Jun 29, 2026 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 0% |
Observed detail: 3 measurable-rain day(s) in the prior two weeks; largest single day 0.18 in.
Water Rights, Irrigation & Land Ownership
Prairie County is bisected by the Yellowstone River at Terry, where the Powder River adds its flow from the south before the combined waters continue east into Dawson County.
Yellowstone River rights in Prairie County are senior, with the oldest appropriations dating to the 1880s and 1890s for stock water and flood irrigation. The Powder River bottom carries additional rights, though the Powder is known for high silt loads and variable flow that limit reliable irrigation. Most irrigated ground supports alfalfa and grass hay in the river bottoms; upland range is entirely dryland. The Yellowstone Compact and Montana Water Court adjudication govern the river’s water use; senior rights holders rarely face curtailment in all but the driest years. Secondary water comes from stock dams in the rolling uplands north of the river. There is no major irrigation district operating in Prairie County.
Production & Sales
Operation character, hay base, and how cattle reach market from Prairie County.
Cattle production
Prairie County operations are primarily cow-calf with some yearling stocker activity on summer range. Outfits range from 150–500 head, with the larger ranches holding both river bottom hay ground and extensive upland range. The Yellowstone bottoms near Terry support smaller diversified operations. Calf sales move to Miles City Livestock Commission in fall.
Hay & winter feed
Alfalfa and grass hay from Yellowstone and Powder River bottoms forms the local hay base, with flood irrigation the dominant delivery system. First cutting typically begins in late June, second in August if water holds. Most larger range operations purchase additional hay to meet winter needs. Current year first cutting outlook is weather-dependent through late June. [draft — verify against current conditions]
Logistics · sale barns & trucking
Miles City Livestock Commission is the primary sale barn, about 80 miles west on I-94. Terry sits on I-94 at Exit 176, giving good east-west trucking access. Glendive is 80 miles east for additional services. Rail shipping has declined; most cattle move by truck.
Prairie 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 | 3,796 | 15.8% |
| South Dakota | 2,594 | 10.8% |
| North Dakota | 2,534 | 10.5% |
| Iowa | 2,072 | 8.6% |
| Idaho | 1,366 | 5.7% |
When Prairie 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.