The heat. The drought. The fires. The cattle markets. What a devastating situation we are in this summer when it comes to Montana's number one industry.

For those of us who live in town and may not see just how troubling of a situation we are in here, I think this video will help paint the picture.

Lane Nordlund hosts our "Montana Talks Ag" program on the radio. He also happens to be a Lewistown, Montana native. His dad shared the following video from Lewistown earlier this week, which shows just how many ranchers are forced to sell their cattle early due to the conditions.

Lane spoke with Kyle Shobe from the Lewistown Livestock Auction on his latest podcast for some very interesting insight, and hopefully- at least *some* good news. Here's part of what Shobe had to say:

Shobe: I typically on our market report put a similar to what the USDA report would do- a receipts today, receipts last week, and receipts a year ago.  And a year ago this week we sold 382 head of livestock, and yesterday we sold just under 2100. So obviously a huge difference there. We're seeing fall run numbers we normally don't see until the second or third week of October. We're seeing in the first week of August.

So what is the good news?

Shobe: For what we're dealing with right now Lane, the market really is exceptional when you think about the number of cattle that are being sold...what's remarkable to me is that that we're seeing fall run numbers, but we're not seeing yet, we're not seeing a big fall off in that weigh of cow market.

Check out the full audio of Lane's conversation on his podcast by clicking below:

 

You Can Rent a Cabin on the Ranch From 'Yellowstone' - See Pictures

The stunning Montana ranch that serves as the setting for the hit TV show Yellowstone offers cabins for rent, and the price includes tours of the set and ranch. Scroll below to see photos of the extraordinary property.

 

 

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