Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
From: Ron Hays <ronphays@cox.net>
Date: 12/8/2017 6:17 AM
To: ron@ronhays.com



 
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We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Carson Horn on RON.
 
  
  
Let's Check the Markets!  



OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.

 
   
Today's First Look:
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
  
  
Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's markets as analyzed by Justin Lewis of KIS futuresclick or tap here for the report posted yesterday afternoon around 3:30 PM.
 
  
Okla Cash Grain:  
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture on Thursday, December 7th.
  
  
Futures Wrap:  
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network - analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day.
  
Feeder Cattle Recap:  
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
  
Slaughter Cattle Recap: 
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by the USDA.
  
TCFA Feedlot Recap:  
Finally, here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
  


  
Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
  
Ron Hays, Senior Farm Director and Editor

Carson Horn, Associate Farm Director and Editor
  
Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
  
Dave Lanning, Markets and Production

Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News

Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
   Friday, December 8, 2017

Howdy Neighbors! 

Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 







-- Today and Tomorrow at the Tulsa Farm Show- Come See Us and Go Check Out Our Sponsors! 

Featured Story:

Over 50 percent of the state is now in drought conditions, according to the latest Drought Monitor report from State Climatologist Gary McManus.


According to this report, it has been more than 60 days in some parts of the state since any significant precipitation has been seen.


Currently, 51 percent of the state is in drought conditions, 27 percent of which is categorized as severe drought. Overall, 88 percent of the state is categorized as at least abnormally dry. With little to no precipitation forecasted for the near future, McManus expects moisture deficits to continue growing.


The widespread dryness has resulted in drought-stressed crops (particularly winter wheat), low or empty farm ponds and increased fire danger across the state.
 
 
Read the original webstory and view a larger image of the Drought Monitor shown above, by clicking or tapping here.

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Oklahoma's State Conservationist Gary O'Neil took a moment to speak with me recently about his extensive work with farmers, consulting them on different financial assistance programs that are available through NRCS and other new, innovative ideas and practices like soil health systems that his office has been promoting. He tells me that such programs and concepts have captured the imagination of farmers and sparked widespread interest in the potential benefits they offer.
 
"It just continues to pick up steam and more people are getting involved in the systems and the practices within those systems," O'Neil said. "We have farmers who are kind of setting the stage for this part of the country on what can happen. We're excited about it and we're seeing a lot of interest."

O'Neil has made it a priority to ensure there are options available to farmers here in the state that wish to get involved in conservation. Two of the most popular and successful programs he has directed producers to, are EQIP and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
 
EQIP, or the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, has really taken off in just a few short years, says O'Neil. He expects the future to hold exponential growth concerning this program, given its far-reaching success. The CSP has also garnered much interest. However, the issue with both programs is that there exists an imbalance between the number of applications and the availability of funds.
 
Taking EQIP for example, O'Neil says roughly $22 million has been invested to financially assist and incentivize farmers who enroll in the program. Still, there remains many unfunded applications. The same is true of the CSP program. O'Neil says as interest in conservation grows among producers, he will continue to work towards increased funding and improving the parameters of the programs.
 
You can hear O'Neil and I speak on these programs and others, including a new project piloted this year here in Oklahoma involving the gleaning of cover crops for local food banks, by clicking here.
TulsaFarmShowFrom the Tulsa Farm Show- We Talk Products and Philosophy with Bob Studebaker of Go Bob

The first day of the Tulsa Farm Show saw a lot of people show up to get out of the chilly temperatures as the coldest conditions of since last January have hit Oklahoma this week- and among those who were on hand to visit with cattle producers who made the trip to the Tulsa Fairgrounds was Bob Studebaker of Go Bob Pipe and Steel. 

We went by a couple of times to visit with Bob but he was always busy chatting with ranchers about the Go Bob line up of products- but finally the third time was a charm as we got a few minutes with him to produce a radio interview that we have posted on our website- and that you can check out by clicking or tapping here.

(It will also be featured on our midday farm news report on KGGF AM 690 this afternoon around 12:50 or just before.)

Bob and I talk about the product lineup of Go Bob- but we also talk about his belief that cattle producers who embrace "Stockmanship" principles are better off- and that low stress cattle handling techniques will help cattlemen and ladies make more money- and produce higher quality beef along the way for consumers. 

Check out our interview- and make one of your stops at the Tulsa Farm Show the Go Bob exhibit on the lower level of the River Spirit Expo Center. 

Simply put, OSU Extension Grain Market Economist Kim Anderson says on SUNUP this week "if you have wheat - you are losing money." The issue Anderson claims to have with domestic wheat production right now, is the quality.


"You and I both know, the success of our crop will be determined by quantity and quality," he said to SUNUP host Dave Deeken. "We have to be competitive. And, we can be."


Farmers in countries that hold a competitive advantage right now, like Russia for example, can at the moment afford to continue investing in inputs to improve the quality of their crops. That, he says, is the upward battle we must face.


But, the caveat is that inputs are only half of the equation. The other? Luck, he says. More specifically cooperative weather and well-timed rains. Combine these with good management principles and Anderson says farmers will achieve a marketable crop and command a higher price.


Put down your nitrogen applications and keep up your soil's fertility, he advises. But now is the time to start planning that. He says start by putting pencil to paper and pay attention to your margins.


"Ask yourself - if I put a dollar in," he says, "am I going to get a dollar out?"


You can watch Kim's visit with Deeken tomorrow or Sunday on SUNUP - or you can hear Kim's comments right now and see what else is on the lineup for this week's episode by clicking here.

Sponsor Spotlight
 

If you have got questions about your beef checkoff- the Oklahoma Beef Council has lots of resources on their website that can provide answers!
 
There is an excellent Q&A with Chairman Tom Fanning and Vice Chair Angie Meyer that you can check out here. 
 
And- there is a Myths and Facts page about what is going on with the checkoff and how your dollars are being spent- click or tap here to jump there. 
 
AND- click here for the home page of the Oklahoma Beef Council website- there's tons of resources you can discover- including great recipes to try out with your family.
 
Oklahoma's Beef Producers want to remind you- above all else- BEEF, It's Whats for Dinner! 


The Department of Agriculture announced it will revisit the United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef, a move drawing praise from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
 
 
NCBA President Craig Uden says the updates to the beef standards will improve accuracy by basing carcass quality grades on the most current scientific data available.
 
 
Following a petition led by NCBA, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service announced that dental study documentation of actual age will now be used as additional methods for classifying maturity of carcasses.
 
 
Prior to the change, some cattle were incorrectly deemed ineligible for USDA quality grades because of limitations in the process used to assess their age.
 
 
A beef industry working group composed of representatives from the cow-calf, feeder and packer segments conservatively estimated that incorrect classification of carcasses cost the industry nearly $60 million annually.
 
 
Click or tap here to read NCBA's complete statement on the USDA's announcement it will revisit its Beef Standards.
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Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

 

BUZZMarket Watcher Derrell Peel Looks Back on the Remarkable Success of the Beef Business in 2017

As we come to the final weeks of the year, I sat down with Extension Livestock Market Economist at Oklahoma State University Dr. Derrell Peel, to review the cattle market over the past calendar year in 2017. For the most part, Peel says 2017 has been a pretty good year for the cattle industry.


"Beef markets have been remarkably strong this year - we describe it as a bit of a surprise," Peel said, adding that a similar story has played out this year in the feedlots as well. "Feeder cattle markets have also done very well this fall. We've seen relatively very little seasonal pressure. Feedlots have had a lot of incentive to feed cattle and keep feedlots full. They've continued to move cattle through pretty quickly. And, on the lightweight end, there's been good stocker demand this fall, too."


According to Peel, boxed beef prices have backed off their highs seen during early November but still seem to be holding relatively strong. Fed cattle, also, have done well in the same situation - sliding off early highs from last month yet remaining fairly strong here near the end of the year. The Livestock Marketing Information Center also reported recently that producers in the cow/calf sector were making money contrary to prior expectations that 2017 would be a breakeven year at best. The only thing that has really stood in the way of producers has been challenges with establishing wheat pasture, hindered by a very dry November. Fortunately, though, for stocker producers with cattle to feed, there is an abundance of other forages. Peel says quite a bit of pasture was carried over from the summer and there is plenty of hay available.


"In general, I think there's lots of stocker cattle out there," Peel said. "But I think producers are having some management challenges to deal with these variable conditions this fall."


Listen to Peel and I as they look back on the cattle business over the past year, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.


In 2015 when the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, or USRSB, came together, its primary challenge was to define how sustainability would be measured or demonstrated by beef producers throughout the different segments of the supply chain, from cow-calf producer to retailer. Together, the group developed and approved six high priority indicator areas: animal health and well-being, efficiency and yield, water resources, land resources, air and greenhouse gas emissions, and employee safety and well-being. These six sustainability indicator areas are meant to span the entire beef production value chain. However, within each beef production segment, the metrics that fulfill the indicators are different and specific. To keep the ball rolling, the USRSB's focus shifted this past year, to develop the metrics for each segment to use.
 
In this process, each segment of the industry was tasked with identifying its own metrics for each indicator. Now that those metrics have been identified, compiled and released by the USRSB - the Noble Research Institute is putting the idea into action. NRI announced in an article published this week, it would use the tools developed by the USRSB in a pilot project to attempt to measure the sustainability of the beef value chain from gate to plate. This project will help the industry to better understand sustainability and test the indicators and metrics that have been developed.
 
"This project engages the full beef supply chain to test the USRSB metrics, explore scalable solutions that could be applicable for beef producers across the country, and create opportunities to share data and best management practices up and down the value chain," NRI states. "Further, we aim to identify the "what else" pieces that should exist within the sustainability conversation."
 
The project's participants, including Integrity Beef Alliance, the Beef Marketing Group, Tyson Foods, Golden State Foods and McDonald's, have all agreed and committed to documenting and sharing information from each production phase to increase efficiency and improve sustainability throughout the supply chain. Each segment will measure progress on key sustainability indicators based on the metrics agreed upon by the USRSB.
 
"Above all else, this is a learning opportunity for those involved in the pilot project as well as for everyone within the beef production value chain," NRI says. "As we learn, we will share and grow. Together, we will keep moving forward because sustainability is a continuous journey, not an endpoint."
 
Click here to read that complete article by the Noble Research Institute published earlier this week, concerning a new pilot project set in motion to test the sustainability tools developed by the USRSB.
 
TulsaFarmSHowToday and Tomorrow at the Tulsa Farm Show- Come See Us and Go Check Out Our Sponsors! 


Midwest Farm Shows was one of our founding sponsors for our daily email- and we are proud to be a part of one of their two annual farm shows that Oklahoma farmers and ranchers can attend- the 24th Tulsa Farm Show continues today 9 to 5 and Saturday 9 to 4.

Our booth where you can stop and say howdy at- is just inside the doors on the south side of the building just behind the big Tulsa Driller Statue- come in and turn left and there we are!!!

As for our other sponsors of our daily email that have booths at the 2017 Tulsa Farm Show- we invite you to stop by and say howdy to them and let them KNOW you appreciate their support of the Ron Hays Daily Email and our Radio Reports on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network!!!!!

American Farmers and Ranchers- Booth 541

Mueller Buildings- Booth 509

National Livestock Credit- Booth 519

Oklahoma Ag Credit- Booth 141

Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association- Booth 639

Oklahoma Farm Bureau- Booth 712

Stillwater Milling- Booth 825



 
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K EquipmentAmerican Farmers & RanchersOklahoma Beef Council, Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National StockyardsOklahoma Farm BureauStillwater Milling CompanyNational Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma AgCredit the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association and  KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- at NO Charge!


We also appreciate our Market Links Sponsor - OKC West Livestock!
  
 
We invite you to check out our website at the link below too that includes an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.   
 

 
God Bless! You can reach us at the following:  
 
phone: 405-473-6144
 

 




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