Jake Fanning of Laverne, Okla. is in Indianapolis this week for the National FFA Convention competing for the honor of being named the 2017 American Star Farmer.

Jake is currently one of four finalists competing for the title. He has made it this far in the competition based on his outstanding accomplishments, achieved through his SAE project, a stocker cattle operation that he has built over the course of his FFA career.

"This is something that I've been looking forward to for a long time," Fanning remarked. "It's a big bear to grab - definitely something that is a daunting task at first. But, after talking with some industry allies that helped me develop my program; doing different practices through the Oklahoma FFA and Career Tech organization... I think it's a lot more manageable that I first realized and I'm very excited to take on the competition in Indianapolis."

But, it's not recognition that Jake is after. He says it would certainly be an honor to win and of course, he hopes to. But, he says the rewards of his work have already come and still continue. Jake explains that his family has been very blessed through the cattle industry and together, they established a charity called, The Beef Project. Jake and his family collects beef and money to purchase beef, and donates it to families in need through local food pantries. He says they started this endeavor as a way to give back, with the business that has been so good to them.

Through helping people in this way, and through the opportunities to serve others in FFA and other organizations, Fanning says he has already received his award.

"It's very hard to come up with words about how the FFA has developed me as a young man," he said. "Really the leadership skills that it presents you through the various events... They have shaped me into who I am today. I am not only an advocate for industry, I am now a steward of this industry."

We of course wish Jake, and all those FFA members from Oklahoma competing at National Convention, good luck this week. To hear our complete conversation and to read more about Jake's SAE, click here. 

Be sure to stay engaged with us this week online or on-air as we bring you updates as they happen from Indianapolis.  And special thanks to our sponsors ITC, Oklahoma FFA and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association for making our convention coverage possible.

Senators Heidi Heitkamp and Joni Ernst, recently introduced legislation to the Senate that would improve the Agriculture Risk Coverage program, an important component of the federal agricultural safety net for farmers.

This action prompted eight major agricultural advocacy groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, to offer their endorsement for the bill.

Farm Bureau joined the seven other groups in signing a letter, expressing their gratitude to the bill's sponsors and what specifically they believe needs to be fixed in ARC.

The letter asks the senators to address the program's need of more defensible data for which decisions can be based upon. It also offers support for the bill's provisions to calculate payments using the rate for the county in which the land is physically located rather than the rate for the administrative county used by the farmer. Finally, the letter expresses approval of the bill's provision that allows FSA state committees the discretion to adjust yield data estimates to help reduce inexplicable variations between neighboring counties or along boundaries with neighboring states.

Among those groups that signed the letter were, American Farm Bureau Federation; American Soybean Association; National Association of Wheat Growers; National Corn Growers Association; National Farmers Union; National Sunflower Association; USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council; US Canola Association.

You can read the letter in its entirety for a more complete explanation of the stance taken by these groups regarding the provisions of this new legislation, by clicking here.

It has proven to be a very profitable year so far for most all segments of the cattle industry here in 2017, according to Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel. He explained to me, that feedlots have managed to make substantial profits, which in turn have encouraged profitability among stocker producers. He says even cow/calf producers stand to make a buck, especially if they carefully manage their costs.


"If you look at how well prices have maintained, especially on the light end, the calves and stocker cattle - from a cow/calf perspective, there are producers that are doing a good job managing costs. There is margin there and certainly profitable producers out there," Peel said, and acknowledged how attractive the stocker business looks currently. "Spring feeder futures were offering a very good margin up until now. Really, one of the rare opportunities to see a good margin. In general, the market with larger cattle supplies is encouraging stocker producers to put weight on those lighter weight cattle - feedlots would rather have them a little heavier."


At the same time, Peel believes that the expansion of the beef cow herd has definitely started to slow down. Drawing from the information in the latest Cattle on Feed report out from the USDA, Peel notes that the October On Feed data, being a quarterly report, shows only a two-point spread in the increase of heifers from the last quarterly report in July, up to 13 percent from 11. While this shows continued growth, Peel says it is also indicative that producers are not retaining heifers as aggressively as they were. Still he predicts the cow herd to be larger come January 1, 2018.


"I do think we're still seeing some increase in 2017," he said. "Somewhere, probably in the 1 to 2 percent range."


Listen to Peel and Hays discuss the opportunities for profitability in the cattle markets this fall, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

The fifth video in its media campaign to promote comprehensive tax reform, was released yesterday by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Already nearly a million exposures have been made on social media through this campaign and its previous four videos, attacking the Death Tax.

NCBA's latest video spotlights sixth-generation Florida rancher Cary Lightsey, who was forced to sell one of his family's ranches outside Tampa to pay a death-tax bill after his father's unexpected passing.

This video comes just as news outlets are reporting that lawmakers could be preparing to introduce comprehensive tax reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives next week.

Further reports speculate that committee and full House votes on the potential legislation could be possible during the first two weeks of November.

The campaign has been anchored by the website, CattlemenForTaxReform.com. You can go there to learn more about the negative impacts the Death Tax has had on those in the agricultural industry and learn how to connect with your policy leaders in Washington, DC to advocate for tax reform. To watch the new video, click over to the original story on our website.

In this week's edition of the Cow/Calf Corner newsletter, Glenn Selk reminds producers about the concerns to be aware of involving prussic acid and nitrate poisoning in cattle from grazing on frosty pastures.

he explains that under certain conditions, sorghums are capable of releasing hydrocyanic acid, commonly called prussic acid. When ingested, it can quickly be absorbed into a cow's blood stream, and will block the animal's cells from utilizing oxygen - effectively killing the animal by asphyxiation at the cellular level.

Lush young regrowth of sorghum-family plants are prone to accumulate prussic acid especially when the plants are stressed such as drought or freeze damage, according to Selk. He says, that light frosts, that only stress the plant but do not kill it, are often associated with prussic acid poisonings. 

"Producers should avoid grazing fields with sorghum type plants following a light frost. The risk of prussic acid poisoning will be reduced, if grazing is delayed until at least one week after a 'killing freeze,'" he states, but also warns. "One can never be absolutely certain that a field of forage sorghum is 100 percent safe to graze."

For cattle that must be grazed on forage sorghum pastures during this time of year, Selk insists that producers also feed another type of hay before turning them out to pasture. He instructs producers to closely watch their cattle for signs of labored breathing and if noted, he says to remove the cattle immediately from the pasture and call your local veterinarian for immediate help.

Click here to read Selk's full article in this week's newsletter, and make certain you are aware of the risks that a little frost can cause.

The last school land lease auction for this week will be hosted in Enid, today. The auction will commence at 10:00 a.m. at the Garfield County Fairgrounds, and will feature tracks of land available for lease in Garfield, Grant, Blaine, Kay, Alfalfa and Kingfisher counties.

Then, next week, the final two auctions will be held in Shawnee and Stillwater on Monday the 30th and Tuesday the 31st, respectively.

Shawnee's auction will take place at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center. The Stillwater auction will happen at the Payne Expo Center. Both begin at 10:00 a.m.