Figure 1.
Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Peel and Mark Johnson. Today, Dr. Peel discusses how recent rainfall will affect producers.
Data from the Oklahoma Mesonet shows that Stillwater, Oklahoma received 2.36 inches of rain on August 11, 2024. For the next 78 days, a total of 0.92 inches of rain fell with only one day receiving more than 0.2 inches and 72 days with zero precipitation. Starting October 30, Stillwater received 5.49 inches of rain in 5 days (Figure 1), with additional rain falling at the time of writing. Figure 1 confirms that the majority of Oklahoma received significant rain in this period. As is frequently the case in Oklahoma, the much-needed rain arrived in the form of severe storms with several tornados, leaving a trail of damage in several communities.
The rain is very helpful to the Oklahoma winter wheat crop and revives prospects for limited late wheat grazing. The Crop Progress report for the last week of October showed that wheat planting in Oklahoma was at 59 percent, compared with the five-year average of 81 percent for that date. Wheat emerged was at 36 percent, compared to an average of 62 percent. The moisture will jump-start wheat growth, but very little winter wheat will be grazable before December and perhaps not much before the end of the year.
The heavy storms likely provided some critical recharge of water supplies for cattle. Refilling ponds will allow some cattle producers to avoid difficult decisions to relocate or liquidate cattle due to lack of drinking water. It is not clear how much or how wide-spread pond water recharge occurred. The extremely dry conditions meant that much of the rain absorbed quickly and did not run, although flash flooding occurred in several locations.
