HSUS and Pacelle Take Gestation Crate Fight to Tyson Board Room 

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the Unites States has announced he will seek a seat on the board of directors of Tyson Foods. He said his goal is to convince the Springdale, Ark., company to phase out its use of gestation crates. In his bid to change the corporate culture of Tyson, Pacelle has enlisted billionaire corporate heavyweight Carl Icahn to help him get a seat at the table.

"I've been a vegan for 28 years now. So it feels a little strange for me to be running for a slot on the board of directors of Tyson Foods, the second-largest meat company in the world and one of the behemoths of industrialized agribusiness," Pacelle said. "But that's exactly what I announced today. And I did so with the support of a new ally-billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has re-engineered some of the biggest companies in America."

HSUS has been pressuring pork producers to eliminate the use of gestation crates in their operations. Smithfield Foods, Hormel Foods, and Cargill have already begun to phase out individual sow housing or have committed to a timetable to eliminate it.

Pacelle approached Icahn to help him gain a position on the Tyson board, but Icahn said "it would be extremely difficult to elect him as a director through a proxy fight." Still, Icahn elected to throw his considerable weight behind the HSUS bid because, "Eliminating those crates will both prevent cruelty to animals, and will improve Tyson's business prospects by putting the company on an equal competitive footing with the bulk of the industry that is already rejecting gestation crates."  

Click here for more on this developing story.

AFR Thankful as Farm Transportation Exemption Takes Effect 

On Oct. 1, a new federal law easing the regulatory burden on agriculture producers transporting supplies and commodities took effect. American Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) was instrumental in the beginning stages of the legislation and has continued to support the Oklahoma congressional delegation that introduced and sponsored the bills. 

AFR congratulated the members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation who were instrumental in the success of this legislation and thanked Sen. Inhofe, Reps. Lankford and Boren, and former Rep. Fallin (now Gov. Fallin) for filing legislation that supports Oklahoma's agriculture industry. 

The new law is a part of a surface transportation measure that Congress recently approved. While the complete measure addresses several transportation issues, two provisions are of significant importance to the Oklahoma agriculture industry. 

You can read more by clicking here.

Wheat Pasture Expectations Low, But Grain Prospects Still Good, Edwards Says

Rains across much of Oklahoma over the last week have kicked wheat planting into high gear and Extension Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards spoke with us about progress and last minute considerations.

"Our producers are playing a little bit of a game of catch up. We had a really dry September. We had some wheat dusted in and a few places, maybe, had enough moisture to get a stand but that dual-purpose wheat that we normally plant in September just didn't happen."

He says a lot of producers were hoping for rains earlier in September to produce ample wheat pasture and their expectations now are generally low.

"We were in a similar situation last year and I had very low expectations in terms of wheat pasture and the year turned out to be a good one in terms of wheat pasture. But if we have anything close to a normal year, I have fairly low expectations for wheat pasture in the state of Oklahoma."

Edwards has a lot more to say and you can read more and here our full interview by clicking here. 

Good Stockmanship, Good Facilities Important, Pate Says

Proper facilities for caring for a beef cattle herd are a necessity. Pens, chutes, fences, gates and alleyways can cost a little or a lot. You can spend a whole lot or a little. Curt Pate, a leading low-stress cattle-handling advocate, says in the second part of our Beef Buzz series with him, that well-planned, serviceable facilities are crucial, but need not break the bank.

"Facilities are very, very important. Having good facilities is the responsible thing to do. But, how much facilities can you have and still be profitable? That's important, too. So, the higher the level of our stockmanship becomes, the less we depend on our facilities. I think you need an absolutely good chute, whether it be a hydraulic or a good manual chute and good lead up facilities for working into the chute. After that, everything's a bonus. 

"If you're handy enough and your cattle work properly, I sometimes think it's better to have an electric fence set up where you can't put any pressure on those animals out there with the pens, you've got to rely on skill. But then once you get them up into that area where the animals are going to be restrained and they're going to have quite a bit of pressure put on them, we should have that as safe an environment for the animals and the working people at that time." 

Click here for the latest from Curt Pate on the Beef Buzz.

Red Ink Continues to Gush From Hog Farm Operations, Purdue Economist Says

Purdue University Extension Economist Chris Hurt says pork producers should be prepared to weather the financial storm for at least another six months.

Pork producers are expected to continue to suffer very large losses in the next six months after already operating in the red for the last six months. These large losses have been brought on by the extreme feed prices due to the drought. There is little producers can do to change the overall situation for the industry since the pigs that will represent these large losses are already on-feed. The pigs that are here today represent producers' plans earlier this year when they were hopeful for $5 corn prices.

In the spring of 2012, producers were optimistic that cheap corn was going to arrive by the fall and were expanding the breeding herd. That optimism faded quickly after mid-June when the reality of drought became apparent. The drought turned optimism into fear and producers then shifted to a liquidation mode during late July and August. By early September they had reduced the size of the breeding herd by 74,000 (1.3 percent) compared to the USDA June inventory estimate. In September, weekly sow slaughter estimates indicated a slowing of the liquidation, with sow slaughter only slightly larger than a year ago. Some follow through on sow liquidation appears to be likely as farrowing intentions are down nearly three percent for the fall and two percent for this coming winter. 

You can find more of Chris Hurt's analysis of economic pains in the hog industry by clicking here. 

Examining the Economic Prospects of Wheat Pasture Production

Writing in the current Cow-Calf Newsletter, Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, examines the ramifications of current rains on wheat pasture prospects.

Much of Oklahoma has received significant rain in the past week that is particularly timely for winter wheat pasture prospects. The rains occurred in some of the driest areas of the state including the south west and south central regions. However, the northern tier counties received little rain and remain very dry. In all cases the rain does not solve the underlying drought conditions and additional moisture will be needed soon for continued wheat development. USDA-NASS reported last week that 21 percent of the Oklahoma wheat crop was planted, up sharply from this time last year (and from a week earlier) but just equal to the five year average for this date. 

A significant portion of wheat pasture may be used to support cows this winter, much as it did last year. Many cow-calf producers are short of pasture and hay for the winter. Limit grazing wheat pasture combined with limit feeding hay is a good way to stretch hay supplies and minimize expensive supplemental feed needs. Although more labor is required for this type of feeding program, it may be a good investment relative to hay and supplement feed costs.

Click here for more from Derrell Peel.

Tulsa State Fair Junior Livestock Show Gears Up 

Later today, the 2012 Junior Livestock show of the Tulsa State Fair kicks into road gear with the start of the barrow, lamb and meat goat show- barrows and lambs start at noon and the goats begin their show schedule at 1 pm.   

The show continues on Thursday morning at 8 am- with the Steers added to the mix and their competition tomorrow morning.  

In recent years- Brandi Herndon and her team have added an element at the Tulsa State Fair for the junior livestock show- what they call their "Night of Champions" where they salute the winners from Wednesday and Thursday in a special presentation that begins at 7 pm.   

The grand finale for the young people is the premium auction of the top animals- and this sale is the fall equivalent to the premium auction of top winners each March at the Oklahoma Youth Expo- a lot of the same young men and women that you see each March will often be bringing animals into the sale ring at Tulsa. Sale time is 11 am Friday morning.  

Last year- the Grand Champion Steer sold for $40,000 to long time Tulsa State Fair show supporter LC Neel.  The Grand Barrow sold for $13,000, the top Market Lamb brought $8,500, the Meat Goat Champ sold for $10,000 and the set of top Broilers were the priciest per pound at $7,000.

Click here for more details from the Tulsa State Fair website of this year's Junior Livestock Show- and we hope to see many of you Thursday night and Friday morning at the 2012 Tulsa State Fair.