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OSU Hard Red Variety Bentley a Leader in OSU Wheat Variety Trials Reported to Date 

 

With a dozen of the Oklahoma State University Wheat Variety Trial locations tabulated so far for 2016, a pair of varieties have risen to the top in yield and in overall rankings. The newest OSU Hard Red Winter variety that has come out of the Brett Carver breeding program, Bentley, has the highest yield per acre average for those varieties that were a part of the trial in all twelve locations. Bentley has averaged 65.83 bushels per acre to date, besting the West Bred Grainfield variety which has averaged 65.08 bushels per acre to this point.

The next four varieties that averaged above sixty bushels per acre from south to north at this point includes:

TAM 204   63.25 BPA

Iba            63.08 BPA

SY Flint     62.25 BPA

Gallagher    60.58 BPA


If you do the rankings and figure them like a golf score- lowest number is the best- the West Bred Grainfield Variety is in first place, just ahead of Bentley after the first twelve locations. SY Flint is third, Iba is 4th and TAM 204 fifth and Gallagher is 6th. Three of the top six varieties that were in all of the trials reported to date are products of the OSU Wheat Breeding Program- and marketed by Oklahoma Genetics, Inc. 

From the wheat varieties that were not in all twelve locations- the standout of that group is the Agripro variety, SY Monument. Monument yielded an average of 68.88 BPA in the nine locations it was tested in to this point. 
 

 

Click here to read more about the OSU wheat variety trials and find a link to more results.

AND- a BIG Thank You to OSU Ag Communications student Kalee Horn who is interning for us this summer- her first assignment in this internship was to crunch the numbers and help analyze the results!  She will be helping us update the numbers as Dr. Dave Marberger posts more results in the next few days.

Steve Dittmer Asks- Will Debbie Stabenow Succeed in Playing the Fear Card in the GMO Labeling Debate?  

 
Steve Dittmer is a former ag journalist who now heads the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation, a non profit that advocates for free market forces in agriculture. This morning, he released an Op-Ed on the GMO Labeling debate that remains a struggle between mandatory and voluntary labeling of foods that contain GMO ingredients.


"The latest word from Washington comes from not-our-favorite senator, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mi). We mention it in that context because we're thinking she is trying to crowd Sen. Pat Roberts into a corner, hoping she can spook him into jumping over the fence into GMO-FearLand. Because all the tactics the anti-GMO forces have mustered have been built on fear -- fear of what they claim is the unknown and untested.

"Never mind that with all our powerful modern analytical equipment, science can find no difference in the nutritive content of a genetically modified kernel of corn or soybean or anything else produced with advanced genetic breeding and editing techniques. These folks just fear modern science and modern agriculture, like previous generations of uneducated peasants feared plagues they couldn't understand or witches they didn't feel comfortable with. People today aren't uneducated, they are poorly educated, indoctrinated with fear and hatred of things they don't understand, in a time in human history when we can explain and understand more of the wonders of the universe than ever."

Dittmer goes on to lay out his case that the Anti- GMO forces want nothing to do with a voluntary approach to GMO labeling- and they want the information written out on the label, which will enable them to further demonize GMO ingredients with this fear and hatred that he has written about.

Click here to read his complete opinion piece as we wait to see what sort of deal might be struck by Roberts and Stabenow that now likely won't be in time to stop the initial implementation of the Vermont Labeling rules.

NFU's Roger Johnson Says Mergers in the Agricultural Industry Don't Necessarily Benefit Producers

 

As agricultural corporations like Dow and DuPont and Bayer and Monsanto continue to propose mergers with one another, National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says farmers and ranchers are going to be left paying the price.


"We are going to have fewer choices of inputs to buy, we're going to have less competition in the marketplace, we're going to have higher costs as a result, we're going to have less innovation that happens," he says. "That's what happens when industries consolidate."


Johnson says NFU opposes the proposed mergers of these major agribusinesses, as his organization was actually founded more than 100 years ago to help create more options for producers.


"As agriculture was developing, there were very few buyers - and in many cases, farmers had one choice of a buyer to sell their products to - and very few input suppliers," he says. "Many of our formative years were spent organizing cooperatives to provide competition in the marketplace."


Because some of the world's larger agricultural corporations are headquartered outside of the United States, Johnson says there is a specific entity of the federal government charged with reviewing international mergers and most of their focus is on national defense.


"They look at these mergers from the standpoint of is there any likelihood these foreign companies might end up with some sort of a strategic military advantage as a result of an acquisition or a merger," he says.


Johnson says a proposed merger between Syngenta and ChemChina is of particular concern.


I spoke with Johnson during his recent trip to Oklahoma. Click here to listen to our conversation about about mergers in the agriculture industry - including more on the proposed merger between Syngenta and ChemChina

Allendale, Inc. Releases Cattle on Feed and Cold Storage Report Estimates

 

On Friday June 24 at 2:00 PM CT, USDA will release their monthly Cattle on Feed and Cold Storage reports. The following are Allendale's estimates for the two reports:


May Placements are expected to be 9.1% larger than last year at 1.875 million head. There have now been four months in a row of above last year placements. This will help bulge supplies in Q3 and Q4. USDA's cattle feeding margin model showed a $33 per head profit for outgoing cattle in May for a very light 1,250 lb. animal. This now marks two months in a row of profits after 15 months of losses. Corn averaged $3.55 in Western Kansas in May ($3.44 in April, $3.67 in May 2015). May placements supply the October through January slaughter period.


Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 7.7% larger than May 2015 at 1.831 million. This was the second smallest May marketing since the data-series started in 1996. Last year was the record low of the data-series. There was one more weekday and one less Saturday than in May of the previous year which artificially inflated the estimate.


Total Cattle on Feed as of June 1 is 1.7% larger than last year at 10.751 million. That is an increase over the May 1 total that was +1.3% from one year ago.


Click here to read Allendale's Cattle on Feed and Cold Storage report estimates.

Dr. L D Barker Says a Strong Veterinary-Client-Patient Relationship is Key to Good Herd Health

 

The USDA mandated veterinary feed directive (VFD) goes into effect January 1, 2017 and will require cattle producers to work with their veterinarian before administering antibiotics via feed. Newcastle veterinarian Dr. L D Barker says a VFD is just a small part of the veterinary-client-patient relationship, which is essential to the overall health and productivity of a herd.


Barker says a strong veterinary-client-patient relationship allows a veterinarian to know the ins and outs of an operation in order to better prevent and treat diseases like bovine respiratory disease - a major concern for a lot of producers. BRD can be prevented with vaccine protocols, but Barker says if an animal is trace mineral deficient or has a parasite load, the vaccine won't be effective. Having that veterinary-client-patient relationship in place gives veterinarians the information they need about the kind, origin and management of cattle on an operation.


For producers looking to introduce high-risk cattle to their herd, Barker says it is especially important to develop a relationship with a veterinarian and work closely with an animal nutritionist to address deficiencies. He also recommends updating facilities to meet Beef Quality Assurance standards, as mishandling cattle can cause unnecessary stress that leads to compromised health.


Listen to Dr. Barker talk more about the benefits of developing a strong veterinary-client-patient relationship during the latest Beef Buzz.

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Drone Rules Out from FAA- Use in Ag Touted by Obama Administration

 

The Federal Aviation Administration Tuesday announced a rule that will allow the use of drones commercially, including for agriculture purposes. The FAA rule limits most small commercial drone operations to daylight hours and requires operators to get certified every two years.


The FAA's 624-page rulebook allows commercial drones weighing up to 55 pounds to fly during daylight hours lower than 400 feet in the air and the aircraft must remain in sight of the operator. The final rule has a 60-day comment period.


A White House fact sheet issued Tuesday says, for agriculture, unmanned aircraft can monitor crop health in real-time for farmers who are trying to manage farms. Further, the White House says by reducing the need for manned aircraft in agricultural operations, drones can help reduce fatal agricultural aviation accidents and can increase crop yields by providing higher-quality data about the ground below.

Read the complete White House release on this rule by clicking or tapping here.

Fed Cattle Exchange Selling This Morning- Best Numbers Yet for This Electronic Finished Cattle Outlet

 
The online platform that is bringing together buyers and sellers of finished cattle, FedCattleExchange.Com, will be holding their fourth sale this morning at 10:00 AM central time. 

Consignments for this sale are the best yet in term of numbers of animals that will be offered to the buyers.  A total of 2,881 will be for sale, starting at 10:00 AM.

You can go back and see the previous week's sales- and you can go to the website by clicking here and watching the sale board in real time as bids are sought for each pen of cattle consigned.

The hope is that over time the sale will continue to grow and will offer some liquidity within the finished cattle market- offering price discovery information that will aid in pricing formula cattle in the days to come.

FedCattleExchange is owned and operated by Superior Livestock- and is being operated out of their offices in Oklahoma City.

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