Historic drought hits ag producers
BUFFALO — A historic drought gripping Johnson County – and much of the region – is forcing tough decisions in the agricultural community.
“We’ve seen dry falls, dry winters and dry springs, but not all three back to back, and it’s terrible,” said Dennis Zezas, who ranches with his brother and dad south of Buffalo.
Earlier this month, Zezas sold some older cow-calf pairs because the rangeland won’t be able to support the entire herd this summer.
“The market’s decent, but we had to go early with them, just because we don’t have enough grass,” he said. “And we may have to go in and make another cut shortly to cut some more out.”
It is a scenario playing out across the county as cattle and sheep producers wrestle with tough decisions: Sell part of the herd they’ve spent generations building or hold on and hope the rain comes and the grass grows.
At the Flying X Bar Ranch north and east of Kaycee, Victor and Darcy Goni raise commercial Targhee ewes and registered black angus. The couple began making “adjustments” in March.
“We were about three-quarters through calving our cows and only weeks away from lambing. Since the cows were already committed to their calving cycle, the sheep became the prime target,” Darcy Goni said. “We sold down the bulk of our bred ewes and held onto our replacement ewe lambs and a few older bred ewes. At the time, it felt like the most practical decision we could make to protect the long-term future of the ranch.”
The drought unfolding across much of Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah, is taking a toll on both lower-elevation rangeland and water supplies.
An unusually warm, dry, windy winter left rangeland without the soil moisture to support spring green-up. In the mountains, below-average snowpack and an early snowmelt have reduced the natural water storage that agricultural producers and ecosystems rely on through the summer.
Mountain snowpack acts as a natural, frozen reservoir. As temperatures rise in the spring and summer, the snow melts slowly. This gradual melting process feeds nearby creeks and streams with a steady flow, recharges groundwater, replenishes reservoirs and ensures that irrigation water is available long after the last winter storm.
But that snowpack lagged all winter, with this year’s peak snowpack setting a benchmark low in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
“There are no comparable years,” the National Integrated Drought System said in a May news release.
Wyoming reported its lowest April 1– the usual peak date – snow water equivalent ever.
Earlier-than-normal meltout occurred across the Western U.S., with snow disappearing an average of 35 days earlier than normal in Wyoming, further reducing the water available heading into summer.
The effects of those conditions are evident in Wyoming’s hay and forage crops. According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress Report, all of the state’s hay crop is experiencing drought, with 91% in severe or extreme drought – the two most extreme categories. Conditions are similarly poor on rangeland and pastureland, where 38% is rated very poor and another 18% is rated poor. Just 44% is rated fair or good.
“The reality is we’re not doing anything that our neighbors aren’t considering as well,” said Darcy Goni. “This drought covers a tremendous geographic area, and ranchers across this region are facing many of the same difficult decisions.”
Light hay crop
At the Rule Ranch east of Buffalo, hay and cattle producer Travis Rule said the dry winter has taken a toll on both grass growth and hay production. With little to no snow fall at lower elevations, there was less moisture available to seep into the ground and replenish the soil ahead of spring green-up.
Snow also normally serves as an insulating blanket, helping to reduce evaporation and preserve existing soil moisture. Without that protective cover, the soil dried out even faster.
As a result, Rule said he began using irrigation water nearly a month earlier than usual.
“We didn’t really get a green-up,” he said. “The soil was so dry, there was nothing. The open winter and wind didn’t help.”
That story is familiar to Zezas who was feeling optimistic following the warm, sunny weather early in the spring and some early irrigating he was able to do.
“I started irrigating early, and we thought, oh boy, here it comes, and then it just never did,” Zezas said. “The grass was starting to come up, and then it just fizzled out. There’s nothing there.”
Even for those with irrigating rights, the story is not much better.
Rule usually expects his earlier irrigation rights to be restricted around the first week of August.
This year, Rule’s water rights were restricted “pretty much from the get go,” he said, about six to eight weeks earlier than usual.
Even if he had been able to put more water on his hay crops, Rule said that this year’s hay crop has been hindered by weather.
“It’s not the best hay year, even with some water on it, it’s just been too cool,” Rule said. “It got froze back a couple of times this spring and we’re not getting rain here.”
Zezas said he expects this year’s hay crop to be about one-third of normal.
“It’s going to be a quick haying season, I believe,” he said. “It may come out of it if we get some heat and some rain to go with it. All we can do is keep praying.”
Rule has contracted to sell hay to repeat customers, but as the drought deepens and expands its reach across cattle country, he’s received inquiries from producers looking for hay.
“I’ve been getting numerous, numerous calls – over and above what I usually get,” Rule said. “People are concerned. You don’t want to carry a freeloader for sure.”
Difficult decisions
Though the reservoirs on Goni operations are all dry, Darcy Goni said a pipeline and tank system continues to provide reliable fresh water to their livestock.
“Water isn’t our challenge, feed is,” she said.
After selling off some of their sheep flock earlier this spring, Darcy Goni said the couple has considered just about every option available to them, reevaluating the situation and reassessing their options weekly.
“Unfortunately, the spring rains never arrived, and the decisions have only become more difficult,” she said. “Nearly 80% of our cow herd we bred and raised ourselves for our specific genetic program. We know every cow by her tag number, her lineage, her calves and the story behind her. Several of those cows have daughters and granddaughters running on the ranch. That makes the decision to sell down particularly difficult.”
The couple considered shipping its cattle to a feedlot for the summer but ultimately decided the stress of transporting bred cattle risked pregnancy loss. Instead, they’ve decided to focus on feeding their herd at home.
In a normal year, the Gonis use a rotational grazing system, moving cattle as water and pasture conditions dictate.
“This year has been entirely different,” Darcy Goni said. “Someone is feeding every other day. We’re hauling hay via flatbed trailer and skidsteer out to our summer pastures, bale grazing, supplementing with protein/flax/mineral tubs and closely monitoring body condition.”
Because forage is scarce and feed is expensive, Goni said the couple is closely monitoring herd health to ensure every animal is performing as efficiently as possible.
The couple has also discussed whether it might make more economical sense to graze their herd under their pivot heads rather than putting up the hay. But that is not a perfect solution either.
“With today’s fuel costs, labor costs, net wrap, repairs and machinery expenses, grazing may make more economic sense than putting up the hay,” Darcy Goni said. “Of course, grazing hay meadows presents its own management challenges, including bloat risk and nutritional considerations, and then there is the added cost of having to buy more hay to feed over the winter.”
Darcy Goni said that this fall, the operation will reduce its cattle herd, retaining its best productive females and top-end herd bull prospects and then begin rebuilding from there.
“If there’s one thing I know about farmers and ranchers, it’s that we’re resilient,” she said. “We get knocked down, we adapt and we keep moving forward. Complaining doesn’t make it rain. The focus has to stay on finding solutions, supporting one another and doing what we can to preserve the operations we have all built.”
This story was published on June 18, 2026.
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