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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

-- Farm Bureau Cheers Bill to Allow Development of Rules for Aquifer Storage and Recovery

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Fire Danger Continues Extreme- Woodward County Fire Burns With No Containment

 
It's not quite sunrise as we ship this email out to you- and the winds continue to roar- but have changed from a southwesterly direction to coming from the northwest- and that may well be a problem with the big Woodward fire that sprang up yesterday afternoon.

In response to this fire- Oklahoma Forestry Services dispatched multiple aircraft, including two single engine air tankers (SEATs), and two CL-415 (Super Scoopers), firefighting task forces and its Incident Management Team on Tuesday afternoon. Structures have been lost in this complex of fires. Oklahoma Forestry Services is working in unified command with Woodward Fire Department. The latest word we are hearing is that it has burned about 27,500 acres to this point- and it currently has not been contained at all.

More details from the Forestry Service available here- and in our webstory, we have the video of that crazy rescue of a Woodward County worker from his grader as fire rolls across his position.

As we write this- that fire continues- and it's not the only blaze out there, according to this map provided by Jed Castles of News9.




For today- there is a Red Flag Warning for EXTREME FIRE DANGER in a total of 53 of the 77 Oklahoma Counties.

In the Tulsa weather service office territory- fourteen counties are impacted- click here for details and the list.

In the Norman weather service office area- there are 39 counties affected- click here for that list.

Wind gusts as they ramp up could reach 35 to 40 miles per hour.

Wheat Crop Conditions Slips in HRW Country 

 
The latest Crop Weather Updates were released twenty four hours later than normal- so we are talking about conditions from the end of the weekend here on this Wednesday morning.

The theme that could be seen in the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Crop Weather Updates was the continuing slippage of the winter wheat crop conditions in the three states. 

In Kansas and Texas, the wheat crop slipped one percentage point in the good to excellent ratings from a week earlier, while the Oklahoma wheat crop slipped two percentage points from the good-excellent numbers.

The Texas crop now sits at 47% good to excellent and 42% in fair shape. The Kansas crop is at 55% good to excellent and 37% in fair condition, while the Oklahoma crop slips two points to a 61% good to excellent rating, with 35% of the crop currently called fair.

The crop in all three states is facing dryness issues and at least some freeze damage. 

To review the complete crop weather reports for the three states, click on the name of the state below to see their report released on Tuesday afternoon.

Oklahoma

Kansas

Texas

If you would like to review the national crop progress report released on Tuesday- click here.

Farm Bureau Cheers Bill to Allow Development of Rules for Aquifer Storage and Recovery

 
The Oklahoma House Environmental Law Committee today approved SB 1219 to allow the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to create and implement rules for aquifer storage and recovery. Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Tom Buchanan issued the statement below in response.

"Oklahoma Farm Bureau is thankful today for the vision of the House Environmental Law Committee in passing SB 1219.

"SB 1219 is the first big step toward allowing aquifer storage and recovery in Oklahoma. The legislation will allow Oklahoma to begin restoring valuable aquifers, and ultimately will help prepare our state for future devastating droughts.

"Our farmers in western Oklahoma rely on groundwater to produce food and fiber for the world. For years, OKFB has studied and discussed methods to develop our state's water supply. We believe aquifer storage and recovery is an excellent and viable opportunity to move Oklahoma's water supply forward.

"As the state's largest general farm organization, we urge state representatives to support Oklahoma agriculture by approving SB 1219."

Noble Foundation Doing Research on Extended Grazing Season for Beef Cows

 
A little over a year ago, the Noble Foundation undertook a Foundation-wide research initiative called Forage 365 with the main objective to develop forages and grazing systems that provide grazeable forage year-round. Within this initiative, there are several projects taking place across the Foundation. They range from basic research in plant nutrient uptake to applied research involving cow-calf and stocker systems.


As part of this initiative, an applied cow-calf research project began in October 2015 to evaluate fall and winter forage systems with the main objective of extending the grazing season and reducing feed costs associated with fall and winter supplementation. This project involves a cow herd of 90 mature Angus-cross cows assigned to one of three treatments. 

In our webstory, available here, on this research, we look at some of the early findings of this on going research project that Noble has undertaken.

According to James Rogers, this will be a multi year study that Noble will be doing- and they have already learned that Mother Nature often will change your plans and dictates how you must respond as a manager.
 

K-State's Feeder Cattle Risk Management Tool Identifies Real Value of Added Pounds to that Feeder Steer

 
Cattle producers concerned about profitability this year may be interested in Kansas State University's updated Feeder Cattle Risk Management Tool, which we spotlight on our Radio Oklahoma Network Beef Buzz, heard on radio stations across the region.


Dr. Glynn Tonsor, associate professor of agricultural economics at KSU, says the index helps producers who are planning to sell calves or yearlings determine their alternative approaches to mitigating price risk. It can be used to compare expected selling prices using Livestock Risk Protection insurance, CME feeder cattle futures, CME feeder cattle options and other strategies. To learn more about your options with Livestock Risk Protection, check with your local livestock insurance agent.

Read more- and take a listen to the comments of Dr. Tonsor on this edition of the Beef Buzz by clicking here.

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Feedlot Trade New Report Offered by Ed Czerwein

 
Starting this week- we are going to be posting a pair of reports from USDA market news reporter Ed Czerwein of Amarillo, Texas.  We have been posting his weekly boxed beef trade report for quite some time- giving you some insight into the wholesale boxed beef trade and what is going on, price wise, with the various components of the beef carcass. Our report that we posted from Ed on Monday of this week is available here.

The new report that Ed has developed that we plan on sharing with you on Tuesdays on our website with a link to it on Wednesdays here in the email is a weekly feedlot trade report. The report will provide an overview of the movement and pricing of cattle across the entire central part of the US- from Iowa-Minnesota down to Oklahoma-Texas.

In his first report that he furnished us with yesterday, Czerwein says "the finished cattle trade live prices were $1 to $3 lower with the biggest declines midweek when the CME plummeted.

"The weekly weighted average cash steer price for the five areas, which include Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Iowa feeding areas, was about $2.30 lower at $133.83 compared to $136.12 the previous week. The five area total cash volume was 70,000 head compared to 51,000 the previous week. The three biggest states for cash volume were Nebraska at 28,000 head, Kansas at 18,000 head and Iowa/Minnesota at 15,000 head. All three together totaled 87 percent of the cash volume.

"Five area formula sales totaled 146,000 head, with Texas at 62,000 head and Kansas at 40,000 head. The five area formula price was $220.10 compared to $220.60 the previous week."

For the full report on the feedlot trade for this latest week- click here.

Superior Offers Select Females Thursday and Big 45,000 Head Offering Friday

 

Superior Video Livestock Auction has a pair of sales to remind you about this week- on Thursday afternoon, they will have one of their Select Female Replacement Cow Sales, with approximately 2,800 females being offered on DISH Network and via SuperiorClickToBid.Com.

Included in the mix are replacement heifers, first calf heifer pairs, Cow Calf Pairs and Bred Heifers.

Then on Friday, it's a big sale coming in the regular every other weekly sales- 45,000 to be offered starting at 8:00 AM Central time.

The lineup will include:

1400 Holsteins, Jerseys

11,700 Yearling Steers

7,400 Yearling Heifers

11,500 Weaned Calves

12,100 Calves on Cows

900 Bred Stock & Weigh Cows

For more information, click here for our calendar listing of this week's Superior Sale- or give them a call at 11-800-422-2117.

Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment,  American Farmers & Ranchers, Stillwater Milling Company, Oklahoma AgCredit,  the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association, Pioneer Cellular, Farm Assure and  KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- at NO Charge!

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