According to OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel, stronger than expected April placements pushed the May 1 feedlot inventories to 102 percent of year ago levels.  April placements were 111 percent of last year, above the average trade guess though not outside the range of expectations.  April marketings were 102.7 percent of last year, also above expectations and a continuation of strong feedlot marketings. 
 

Slowly growing feedlot inventories reflect the increase in feeder supplies resulting from three years of herd expansion.  The May 1 on-feed inventory is the highest monthly cattle on feed total since February of 2013 and the highest May total since 2012.  A combination of short and long-run regional factors and trends has resulted in some interesting comparisons of cattle feeding in the major feedlot states. The data comparisons below are based on the current cattle on feed data series that dates back to 1992.

Dr. Peel's full analysis on the May Cattle on Feed numbers can be read on our website- click or tap here for his take on the USDA report.

Mark your calendars, because on June 15th this summer, your local Farm Service Agency office will begin accepting nominations for eligible producers who wish to serve on their county committees.

"There's an increasing need for representation from underserved producers," said Acting FSA Administrator Chris Beyerhelm. "We strongly encourage all eligible producers to visit their local FSA office today to find out how to get involved in their county's election."

Those farmers and ranchers that are elected, will then have the opportunity to serve their neighbors as their representative on the county committee to help make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally in a way that best meets their needs.

Committees consist of three to 11 members and meet once a month or as needed to make important decisions on disaster and conservation programs, emergency programs, commodity price support loan programs, county office employment and other agricultural issues. Members serve three-year terms.

You may nominate yourself or others. Also, organizations, including those representing beginning, women and minority producers, may also nominate candidates to better serve their communities. To be eligible to serve on an FSA county committee, a person must participate or cooperate in an agency administered program, and reside in the local administrative area where the election is being held.

For more details and resources on the nomination and election process regarding FSA County Committees, click here. 

As part of a continuing series of stories on Significant Women in Oklahoma Agriculture, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry and Oklahoma State University are recognizing and honoring the impact of countless women across all 77 counties of the state, from all aspects and areas of the agricultural industry. The honorees were nominated by their peers and selected by a committee of 14 industry professionals. This week Dr. Mindi Clark of Byron, Okla. is featured this week as a Significant Woman in Oklahoma Agriculture.


It has been said that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.


Perhaps that is why long before Dr. Mindi Clark of Byron, OK had the agricultural success and knowledge she does today, she was spending her time pouring into others and serving the agriculture community. Now a wife and new mother, she continues to impact lives through agriculture every day.


Brought up in Braman, OK on a small farm that raised swine and cattle, Dr. Clark was always drawn to the agricultural lifestyle.


"My first involvement in agriculture was showing livestock through 4-H and helping with livestock on the farm," said Dr. Clark. "That led to me getting involved in FFA in the 8th grade. FFA provided me opportunities to compete in public speaking, livestock judging and to hold leadership roles in high school. I also worked at the local grain elevator during the summers. I think both of those experiences propelled my love for agriculture and stoked a desire for me to be a part of the agriculture community."

Continue reading about Clark's story as a significant woman in Oklahoma's ag industry, on our website by clicking or tapping here.

Ted McCollum of Texas AgriLife is one of the top beef cattle specialists in the region. I caught up with McCollum during a recent presentation he gave on the subject of figuring out the right size of cows to have for your beef cow herd. He says over the decades we have seen cattle bred to fit the full range of the size spectrum. Currently though, more moderately built cows seem to be the norm, but McCollum suggests that each individual ranch should have its own optimized standard.


"You can argue what's the optimum cow size from a number of different standpoints, but the way I look at it," he explained, "if you own a ranch, you bought property. You're looking at every turn back to that investment which is returned back to the land area that you own."


McCollum says the question then becomes, 'What size of cow may optimize my returns back to the land?'


"I'm not looking necessarily what's the optimum size in terms of weaning weight per cow, but weaning weight per acre of land that I own," McCollum said. "In my opinion, size is not really a matter because what we're going to do is adjust the number of cows per unit of land area - but based on forage production and size also."


Listen to McCollum explain his theory on optimizing the size of your cows to best fit your operation based on land area and forage production with me, on last Friday's Beef Buzz - click here.

Researchers at Oklahoma State University have discovered that prescribed burns in summer months can be just as or more effective than traditional burns conducted during the spring.

To this end, OSU hopes to help people better understand growing season burns and has elected to host a Fire Field Day to reach out to those interested and offer training seminars on the subject. This field day is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 20 at Bigfork Ranch, 2750 County Road 250, Marland.

"You can burn in any month of the year and some of the months a lot of people don't think about burning in, like July and August, are actually some of the better conditioned months in which to burn," said John Weir, OSU Cooperative Extension rangeland ecology and management specialist. "The burning conditions are more conducive and you've got more days you can get it done. If you restrict yourself to February, March and April, you don't have many days where you have a good chance to burn and you may not be able to get the burning done that you should for the management practices that you are trying to achieve." For details on the field day schedule or to find out how to register for the event, you can click over to our website for further information.

Darcy Helmick, Land Manager for Simplot Land & Livestock, testified last week before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs and Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and Environment during a hearing to examine how environmental advocacy groups and federal agencies regulate through consent decrees using citizen lawsuit provisions in environmental laws, which is known as "sue and settle."

"In my extensive experience dealing with the federal grazing system and western land use in general, offensive litigation tactics by outside activist groups have served to totally derail business operations," said Helmick. "While it is critical that we maintain the right of citizens to litigate when necessary, reform is needed to prevent that right from being abused or exploited."

Helmick called on the members of Congress to act swiftly and justly to curb use of this tactic that has been abused by radical environmental groups to diminish the recourse and viability of farming and ranching in the US, particularly the western states. She adds that this has significantly hindered young and beginning producers from being able to establish themselves and says it is making it impossible for America's farming traditions to survive, noting the ag industry's ever shrinking footprint in the region.

You can read more of Helmick's remarks and testimony in defense of farmers and ranchers who have been victim to sue and settle tactics to hinder their ability to run their operations, by clicking here.

 
The Senate Ag Committee heard testimony last week from several economists on the challenges that currently exist in farm country. Republican Ag Chair Pat Roberts of Kansas and Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow of Michigan both came to the same conclusion: no more cuts for farm bill programs.

At what he described as the first farm bill hearing in Washington, Roberts did say the nation's debt is approaching $20 trillion. However, he said between the savings from the last farm bill and the Ag Department's crop insurance negotiation, "everyone on this committee thinks agriculture has already given at the store."

Roberts emphasized the importance of producers having risk management tools at their disposal. "Let me emphasize that crop insurance is the most valuable tool in the risk management toolbox," he said.

Stabenow focused more on the proposed Trump budget released earlier last week, saying, "It cuts crop insurance by $29 billion which would take away a critical part of the farm safety net when it's needed most." A panel of economists and Ag business members testified that economic conditions for farmers and ranchers continue to get worse, but it's still not as bad as the farm crisis of the 1980s.

Video of the hearing and links to the testimony of each of the witnesses are available by clicking or tapping here.