By Hay bales in a field near Ucross, Wyoming. Ranchers have been hauling feed under emergency overweight permits this fall.Photo: Adam Kuby, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Gov. Mark Gordon has extended Wyoming’s emergency permits for oversize and overweight loads of livestock feed and livestock through early December, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported Nov. 5. The paper said Gordon signed Executive Order 2026-011, which extends the original authorization in Executive Order 2026-005. The Cody Enterprise, writing a few days later, also reported that the order was signed Nov. 5 and that it extends the state’s original August authorization.
Both accounts tie the extension to drought, high temperatures, low humidity and wildfires across Wyoming during the spring and summer of 2026. The Tribune Eagle said those conditions have depleted pasture grass and natural forage and created a livestock feed shortage that the order describes as a threat to the state’s agricultural sector and general economy. The Cody Enterprise attributed similar language to a news release from the governor’s office, which called the forage shortage “a critical livestock feed shortage that threatens the state’s agricultural sector and general economy.”
According to the Tribune Eagle, the new order starts when the current extension under Executive Order 2026-008 expires and runs no later than Dec. 6. The Cody Enterprise described the permits as continuing “through December” and did not give that end date. An earlier Oct. 6 release from the governor’s office said Executive Order 2026-008, which extended a prior authorization, expired no later than Nov. 6. The Tribune Eagle said the latest order can be found on the governor’s website.
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