Drought is not a single bad summer in Wyoming. It is a pattern that stacks dry year on dry year until reservoirs shrink, creeks run thin, and the grass that should reach a horse's knee barely covers a boot.

For ranchers, the hardest choice is when to sell. Holding too many cattle on overgrazed ground damages the range for years to come, but selling into a glutted market means taking a painful loss. Many now cull earlier and deeper, keeping only their best mother cows and betting on wetter years ahead.

Water is the other constant worry. Ranchers haul it to distant pastures, drill deeper wells, and pipe springs to tanks so cattle spread out instead of trampling one green draw to dust.

Rotational grazing has become gospel on many outfits. By moving herds often and resting each pasture, ranchers give grass a chance to recover its roots and hold what moisture does fall. It is more fencing, more labor, and more planning, but in a drying climate it may be the difference between a ranch that endures and one that blows away with the topsoil.