It's the final market trading day of the old year.  Ag Futures and the Stock Markets will be trading for a full, normal trading session today through this afternoon.  And that will be it for 2016.

There will be a three day holiday as Uncle Sam, state and local governments, banks and the markets will celebrate New Year's by not opening up on Monday, January second.

For our stocker and feed cattle auction markets, there will be a sale in Joplin next Monday, January second.

First sales for the other auctions reported by USDA and that we cover on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network include:

January 3- McAlester Union Stockyards

January 4- OKC West, Southern Oklahoma Livestock in Ada and Dodge City, Kansas.

January 5- Woodward, Apache and Pratt, Kansas

January 9- Oklahoma National Stockyards and Tulsa


We will take a day off from publishing this email- but you will be able to hear our radio reports across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network on Monday.

The email returns for 2017- starting Tuesday, January 3rd!

I pray that you have had a good 2016- and that God will bless you abundantly in 2017!

 

When Windy and Drought Conditions mix- you get fire danger- and right now through midday tomorrow- we have it in spades across a bunch of Oklahoma Counties.

A Red Flag Warning is now in effect for the following counties- Harper, Woods, Alfalfa, Kay, Ellis, Woodward, Major, Garfield, Noble, Roger Mills, Dewey, Custer, Blaine, Oklahoma, Lincoln, Grady, McClain, Cleveland and Pottawatomie Counties.

Here's a map courtesy of Jed Castles from News9 on the extreme nature of the fire danger in these final days of 2016:




Be careful in these areas of highest fire danger!

 

Compare the start of 2016 to the end of 2016- and across Oklahoma you will see no drought last January versus a state almost totally covered with the colors of drought as we come to the end of December. The final Drought Monitor of 2016, seen below,. shows only five percent of the state not in at least an abnormally dry or worse rating as of December 27th. The extreme southwest corner of Oklahoma is not in drought or even abnormally dry- counties like Jackson, Harmon, Kiowa and Tillman are usually scrambling for enough moisture but as we end 2016- they are okay.




According to State Climatologist Gary McManus, "The amount of total drought (D1-D4) stayed about the same, but we did see an expansion of D2 (Severe Drought) of about 3.5 percent, and I think that was a bit conservative of an expansion due to the Holiday. My guess is that next week we will see an even larger expansion of drought of different intensity across the state."

Click or tap here to read more- and catch up on Gary's latest Mesonet Ticker.

 

As 2016 comes to a close, I looked back to last March and looked ahead to March 2017 with the Executive Director Tyler Norvell of the Oklahoma Youth Expo. Norvell says that despite the lackluster economy, the 2016 OYE was a great success, with close to two million dollars in prize money, scholarships and auction premiums invested back into the young people who show the animals. Over seven thousand 4-H and FFA students showed more than 13,000 animals last March in Oklahoma City.


And it appears, again despite the economy, the nominations of animals for the 2017 OYE are just as large as last year, with 22,000 nominations paid for in November and December for the upcoming show in March. Norvell says that he expects when the show arrives and the animals are hauled to State Fair Park- there will be around 13,000 animals again at the 2017 Oklahoma Youth Expo.

Click or tap here to read more- and to listen to our conversation about the world's largest junior livestock show!

AND- be watching Saturday morning as Tyler and I talk OYE on my final In the Field segment for 2016- it will air on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City around 6:40 AM.

 
It's amazing that we still do not have a nominee by President Elect Donald Trump for his Secretary of Agriculture. 

Latest talk has three names floating.  Agri-Pulse reports "Former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado was scheduled to talk to Trump about the job on Thursday at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on a conference call.

 
Donations to the 2016 AFR Women's Cooperative Drive Away Hunger campaign will provide approximately 129,000 meals for hungry Oklahomans.

"We had a goal of 50,000 meals," Suzanne Gilbert, AFR Women's Cooperative chair, said. "The fact we almost tripled our goal is a great testament to the generosity of our members."

Throughout 2016, AFR members, youth, agents and local volunteers gathered donations during county and statewide events.   Members were asked to bring nonperishable canned goods to county annual meetings, county fairs, and other local events. Youth at the annual leadership summit played a major role in meeting the Women's Cooperative goal.

The donations were collected and distributed to local and county food banks with cooperation from the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.

Read more by clicking here.