Baker County drought worsens, ranchers move cattle early as hay dries up

Lower-elevation forage in Baker County is already burned up, and ranchers are pushing cattle to higher country 45 to 60 days earlier than normal as the dry spell worsens. About 77% of the county was in severe drought in the June 9 U.S. Drought Monitor update, and the rest of Baker County was also in severe drought. With no meaningful rain forecast through at least June 22, the pressure is building on ranchers, water users and anyone relying on the county’s shrinking moisture.

The turnaround from spring hope to summer stress was abrupt. Baker City Airport recorded 2.55 inches of rain in April, the second-most since records began in 1943, and that briefly suggested the wettest months might still salvage some range and pasture. May flipped the script with just 0.14 inch, the second-driest May on record at the airport, and June added only 0.10 inch through June 15.

Mike Widman, who has worked Baker County range country for more than 50 years, said conditions are “terrible, terrible” and “the worst I’ve ever seen.” He said the lower country has essentially dried out, not from fire but from drought, and that cattle are already being moved uphill far ahead of schedule. The deeper worry, Widman said, is what comes next: ranchers will have to bring herds back down early and start feeding hay sooner, even as irrigation shortages threaten to reduce hay production and push prices higher.

The county’s drought crisis was serious enough that the Baker County Board of Commissioners asked Gov. Tina Kotek for a drought disaster declaration earlier in the year. Kotek had already declared a drought emergency on March 31 for Baker, Deschutes and Umatilla counties through Executive Order 26-05, saying persistent moderate drought in Baker County, along with below-normal precipitation, above-normal temperature, well below normal snowpack and below-normal streamflow forecasts, could create natural and economic disaster conditions. The order said drought could hit agriculture, livestock, natural resources, recreational tourism, drinking water, fish and wildlife, and wildfire risk, and directed the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Water Resources Department to coordinate assistance.

Statewide, the picture was already grim. By June 10, Oregon had 17 counties under emergency drought declarations, tied for the second-most in the past decade. State officials said the 2025-26 winter was tied with 1934 as the warmest on record statewide, and hydrologists reported record low snowpack. In Baker County, where the drought has been persistent since June 2025, the concern is that a dry summer will squeeze hay, wells and irrigation even harder by late season.