Category: Ag News

As the importance of agriculture continues to be a focus throughout the world, students around the country understand the vital role it plays in everyday life. No more is this more evident than in the growth of membership in the Natio…

The 2023 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show is headed to the Big Easy, and funding is available to offset some costs for producers. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is offering a variety of scholarships and g…

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KC Sheperd, Farm Director, got the chance to visit with country music singer and songwriter and the newest brand ambassador for Case IH, Lee Brice. Sheperd and Brice talk about his new song, “Farmer” which recognizes those working in the agriculture industry to provide for the world.

With over 3 billion on-demand streams, and over 3.6 billion spins on Pandora, Brice continues to enjoy massive success at country radio, digital streaming services, and on the road. Lee is also a GRAMMY nominee, a CMA and ACM award winner, and he’s taken nine radio singles to Number One: “A Woman Like You,” “Hard to Love,” “I Drive Your Truck,” “I Don’t Dance,” “Drinking Class,” “Rumor,” “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” “One of Them Girls,” and “Memory I Don’t Mess With.”

Growing up in South Carolina, Brice said he was raised with a family in agriculture and has always had a deep appreciation for the work farmers do. Because of his background, Brice said it was important to him that his children grew up the same way.

“I was able to get a small farm out here south of Nashville,” Brice said.

Instead of his children asking for an iPad or another electronic, Brice said he wanted his kids to spend time outside learning how to work and figure things out.

“Learning on your own and being out and exploring- that is something that I don’t think a lot of kids these days are getting, and I feel like it’s a real-life lesson later down the road,” Brice said.

The song “Farmer”, Brice said, is written specifically to lift up the farmers who work hard so that people can go to the grocery store and find the things they need for their families- something many take for granted.

“People don’t realize how hard folks work and how much they do,” Brice said. “No farmer is running around being a millionaire. They are working, and we appreciate them.”

The new song reinforces the mission of Case IH’s Built by Farmers brand campaign, which highlights the deep ties between Case IH employees and their collective farming backgrounds. Case IH’s employees and their families farm nearly 1 million acres of land across North America. It is this passion for the industry that drives the company to design, engineer, build and support equipment and system solutions that meet producers’ needs.

Watch KC Sheperd’s conversation with Lee Brice below!

For more information about the Case IH Built by Farmers campaign, click here.

To listen to Lee Brice’s new song, “Farmer” on YouTube, click here.

Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear the audio of KC Sheperd’s conversation with Lee Brice about his new song, “Farmer”.

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Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is featuring comments from Kansas State University Extension Livestock Market Economist, Dr. Glynn Tonsor, talking about profitability and demand. Tonsor&…

Oklahoma Teachers!

Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year!

Oklahoma AITC would like to invite you to participate in our, “Read and Accurate Book Week?” September 6th through the 9th.

Do you already have your favorite read aloud book(s) planned? Are you new to AITC and need suggestions? We are here to help!

Our goal is to educate schools, teachers, faculty and students about the importance of accurate information of where our food comes from! We want to put accurate agriculture books in our libraries, classrooms, and homes. Are you ready to support our AG week of READING?

Don’t know how to get started? Here are a few suggestions:

Teachers /Librarians/Early Childhood Centers etc. – register to read to your classroom, snap a picture, post on social media #okagclass & #readagbooks2022, or email a picture

Parents – ask to register the teacher of your child, kindly ask to be a guest reader, or ask a community member to read

Schools – read an accurate agriculture book week “school wide,” bring in community members to read, SRO school resource officers, retired teachers, FFA members, High Schools groups, or request a guest reader

Classrooms – Register and join a ZOOM “reader” we will spotlight during the week.

We will have a drawing for bushels of books for those who complete the steps below!
(2 classrooms, 1 FFA Chapter, 1 4H, and 1 FCCLA)

1. Register @ https://forms.gle/3Q6ZHFhzB61DU7Qs5
2. Read an “Accurate Ag Book”
3. Post a picture on FB/Insta using
#okagclass & #readagbooks2022
OR email, emily.ague@ag.ok.gov

Register @:
https://forms.gle/3Q6ZHFhzB61DU7Qs5

Educators, Did you know you can schedule a mobile Dairy Experince for your classroom?

Southwest Dairy Farmers is an alliance of dairy farmers from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina. These producers …

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RON’s Dave Lanning has a pre-opening look at today’s agricultural Markets.

Click the audio tab below for today’s report.

Weekly, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Nutrition Specialist Paul Beck offers his expertise on the beef cattle industry. This is a part of the weekly series known as the “Cow-Calf Corner” published electronically by Beck. Today, he talks about weaning calves early due to low forage inventory.

Pasture conditions are deteriorating and hay inventory is short, if you’re out of grass and about to start feeding hay it’s time to take drastic action to maintain your cowherd and prevent further injury to pastures. Many areas in the West and Southern Great Plains have seen high culling rates with cows going to town in droves. Once all the old, open, or non-productive cows are culled the next step for many producers is to wean calves early.

It is much harder to maintain or add condition on a cow that still has a calf on her side. A dry pregnant cow in the second trimester requires 37% less TDN and 13% less protein than when she is in late lactation with a calf. The dry pregnant cow not only requires less energy and protein, she also would eat 20% less than the lactating cow.

Research shows that calves can be weaned as early as 45-days of age, and these calves grown to similar or heavier weights by normal weaning time. Spring born calves in mid to late August are currently 3 to 5 months of age and likely weight 300 to 400 pounds. Even though they are much lighter than our normal calf weights at weaning, it is still relatively simple to feed these light weight calves grower diets in dry lot to maintain targeted sales weights by normal marketing time. Early weaned calves can be grown in dry lot very efficiently with feed-to-gain expected to be 4.5 to 5 pounds of feed per pound of gain. Because these calves are smaller and immature, they should be fed growing rations with targeted gains of 2 to 2.5 pounds per day, depending on frame size and growth potential. This size calf would be expected to eat about 3% of their bodyweight per day on a dry matter basis, but the lighter calves require 18% crude protein diets until they weigh over 400 pounds. Below is an example of a 18% crude protein that can fed to light weight growing calves, consult with your local Cooperative Extension Agent or feed company representative for locally available feedstuffs.

Dr Keith Lusby and Don Gill had the following observations and conclusions on early weaning of calves.

1. Early weaning is a predictable method of salvaging high reproduction rates during droughts and other emergencies
2. The early weaned calves are pretty tough and learn to eat palatable rations quickly.
3. Health problems when calves are weaned and kept on the ranch have been minimal.
4. Early weaned calves should be managed on the ranch or with only a short haul for a period after weaning.
5. Managing these calves in a commercial feedlot is risky and takes coordination among the owner, feedlot manager, consulting veterinarian, and consulting nutritionist. Mistakes here can have long term and often fatal consequences.

In the video below, watch Dr. Mark Johnson’s discussion of the benefits of early weaning on SunUp TV’s Cow-Calf Corner:

Click Here to read Dr. Mark Johnson describe the benefits of early weaning in a Cow-Calf Corner article from July 18, 2022.

The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers committee is set to host the 2022 Oklahoma State Fair Livestock Judging Contest Thursday, September 15 at the state fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.

The annual competition offers 4-H and F…

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At the 2022 Pork Congress, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, visited with the CEO of the National Pork Board, Bill Even, on educating today’s consumers about the pork industry.

Even rep…