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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 Ron Hays 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 futures- click or tap here for the report posted yesterday afternoon around 3:30 PM.
Okla Cash Grain:
Futures Wrap:
Feeder Cattle Recap:
Slaughter Cattle Recap:
TCFA Feedlot Recap:
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
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Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Monday, December 18, 2017
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Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
-- Tax Reform Conference Report Ready to Be Voted On- Ag Gets Some Benefits
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Featured Story:
 Pork Producers Hail Organic Rule Withdrawal, Thank Perdue for Listening to Farmers' Concerns
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue elated many in the ag industry, Friday, with the announcement of his decision to lead in the USDA's withdrawal of a proposed organic rule for livestock and poultry.
The Obama-era regulation - the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule - would have incorporated into the National Organic Program welfare standards that were not based on science and that were outside the scope of the Organic Food Production Act of 1990. The act limited consideration of livestock as organic to feeding and medication practices.
Perdue came to the conclusion that the regulation would have had a greater economic impact on farmers than originally estimated if implemented, and exceeded the agency's authority.
Prior to this, the National Pork Producers Council had made comments on the rule, expressing concerns over with the proposed rule's potential impact on animal and public health. The NPPC praised Perdue's decision, thanking him and the Trump Administration in a release for "listening to the farmers it would have affected."
The withdraw notice, which will be published in the Federal Register next week, is subject to a public comment period.
Click here to read the complete statement issued last week by NPPC.
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Sponsor Spotlight
It's great to have the Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards as a sponsor for our daily email. The eight Commission firms at the Stockyards make up the exchange- and they are committed to work hard to get you top dollar when you consign your cattle with them. They will present your cattle to the buyers gathered each Monday or Tuesday at one of the largest stocker and feeder cattle auctions in the world.
Click here for a complete list of the Commission firms that make up the Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards- still the best place to sell your cattle- and at the heart of Stockyards City, where you can go around the corner enjoy a great steak and shop for the very best in western wear.
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Tax Reform Conference Report is Out- Ag Gets Some Benefits
It is expected that the House could vote on the Tax Reform Conference Report as early as tomorrow- and the Senate is likely to vote this week as well- several key Senators that were holding out have indicated they will vote for the final deal- and this huge complex measure could be signed by President Trump by this weekend- just in time for Christmas.
While Ag Interests are still pawing thru the conference report to figure out the naughty and the nice of the measure- we do know there is a doubling of the exemption for Estate Taxes- we are now talking about $11 million for individuals and $22 for a couple- apparently with Stepped Up Basis in the deal to boot. There is no elimination of the Death Tax- but this covers a lot of our farm and ranch operations.
There is benefit to Coops- apparently. Chuck Connor of the National Council of Farmer Coops has offered a Thumbs Up. "The top tax bill priority for farmer co-ops was ensuring that the elimination of the Section 199 deduction did not result in a tax increase on farmers. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota recognized the consequences of eliminating the deduction early on and became instrumental in finding a fair solution. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the Finance Committee and a co-chair of the Congressional Farmer Cooperative Caucus, secured provisions that will keep money in the pockets of family farmers across the country at a time when low commodity prices mean that every penny counts." Click here for his complete statement.
We also have statements from Senator Jim Inhofe and Senate Ag Committee Chair Pat Roberts on the bill- click on their names to see those statements- Inhofe includes a comment from Farm Bureau's Rodd Moesel on one provision- "I appreciate Sen. Inhofe's efforts during the consideration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to ensure the Oklahoma Farm Bureau is continued to be treated as a tax-exempt organization. Each year, the Farm Bureau serves Oklahoma's farmers and ranchers by providing important services to improve the lives of rural Oklahomans. Our mission would have been directly jeopardized if any changes to our tax status had been contemplated in this important legislation."
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Oklahoma's second special session for the year is set to begin today. Legislators will convene at the State Capital to address ways in which to hopefully fix our state's ongoing budget crisis. Recently, our own Carson Horn had the chance to speak with Steve Thompson, AFR's director of legislative affairs about this special and his expectations.
Reflecting on Oklahoma's politics this past year, Thompson bluntly shared his feelings on the performance of our state legislature.
"This has been without question in my 18 years at the Capital, the most historic legislative session that we have ever had, with which very little happened," he said. "Some of the discussions and debate over the budget are truly unprecedented, but we're at a place in our politics in Oklahoma where you can't seem to get any compromise."
Given the nature of this budget crisis, though, Thompson has doubts that much will even be accomplished in this special session to really solve our budget woes. It is his hope, however, that our legislators will finally buckle down during the regular session in February and fix the problems at hand once and for all.
"History has shown that those big decisions are not going to be solved in an emergency session," he said. "I don't think that this is the time of year to be dealing with that. We need to make sure the trains run on time and everybody gets their paycheck and all the programs keep rolling. But, things are going to have to be addressed in February and March and some hard decisions will have to be made there that can't be put off any longer."
You can read more or hear Carson and Thompson speak more about the issues facing Oklahomans and the special session, by clicking here.
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Drought conditions crept higher across Oklahoma last week, bringing the entire state into at least 'Abnormally Dry' conditions.
Breaking down the numbers in the latest Drought Monitor outlined by State Climatologist Gary McManus in his weekly Mesonet Ticker report, 27 percent of the state is considered in 'Moderate Drought' conditions, 25 percent in 'Severe Drought' and now three percent in 'Extreme Drought.'
While 55 percent of the state is in drought conditions, McManus says the good news is that at least there are no cases of 'Exceptional Drought' conditions, so far.
As of right now, McManus says a Canadian forecast model lends little confidence as our next best hope for rain - which predicts only a 30-40 percent chance of just an inch of liquid precipitation accumulating between now and December 29th.
You can read McManus' Mesonet Ticker column for this week and view a larger image of the latest Drought Monitor, here.
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Fed Cattle Exchange Offers New Opportunity to Explore Price Discovery in Today's Changing Market
It was a concept talked about for a long time in the beef industry - an auction platform for fed cattle. Superior Livestock and the National Livestock Credit Commission came together to make that idea a reality in recent years, creating FedCattleExchange.com. Robert York, CEO of National Livestock spoke with me about why this concept is so exciting and the value it brings to producers in these changing times. "All we want to do is make a difference when it comes to transparency, the timing of those sales and how they're reported," York explained. "We started out with a tremendous fall about a year ago. Numbers were really growing and we were very excited about it." Today, York admits the numbers aren't quite where he would hope but says the online auction platform is still performing profitably even with lower than preferred numbers. York says he can't point to a specific reason why there aren't more participating on the site, but believes it is partially due to a slow adoption rate in the industry. He says it is understandable that people want the most for their cattle and therefor try to privately broker better deals. Unfortunately, though he says that practice comes at the detriment to producers hemmed in by less opportunity for price discovery - the real purpose behind the website. "There is a need for change," York remarked. "When you see as many cattle as we see going other ways than negotiated trade - we have to know that eventually we've got to find a way for price discovery to replace the lack of those negotiated trades. I tell people all the time, we don't make the market; we don't set the market; but we do our best every day to help you find out what the market is." Listen to York and I discuss the changing times in the marketplace and how the Fed Cattle Exchange offers a new avenue for price discovery, on Friday's Beef Buzz - click here. |
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Sponsor Spotlight
We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update. On both the state and national levels, full-time staff members serve as a "watchdog" for family agriculture producers, mutual insurance company members and life company members.
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In an op-ed piece published last week, Noble Research Institute President and CEO Bill Buckner discussed where we should be looking in our search for the next frontier to explore.
"As we continue to stargaze, dreaming of the great mysteries above us, we have another historic exploration opportunity. One that is closer. One that requires us to look down, not up," Buckner writes. "In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci said, 'We know more about the movement of the celestial bodies than the soil underfoot.' More than 500 years later, this fact remains true."
He argues that while there has been great advances in the realm of agriculture, there's been little investment made in the research of soil sciences compared to the innovation that's been done with crop protection and fertilizers and seed technology.
In our rush to feed the world's growing population, Buckner says the soil has been overlooked by science. However, he suggests that soil could be the key to unlocking an untapped wealth of knowledge into food production and beyond.
"This biome holds the potential to provide humanity with new antibiotics, ways to effectively store large quantities of carbon (which leads to cleaner water and a more resilient planet), and the potential to use less water and synthetic inputs in food production.
"Through the work of a coalition of research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, private industry and government agencies," he writes, "we have identified areas in soil health research that will benefit the environment and the economy as well as position us to feed the rapidly expanding world population."
To achieve these goals, Buckner has called on those willing to join Noble and the Soil Health Institute to match any and all government funding they are able to secure to help in their efforts to better the world and its understanding of our soils for future generations.
You can read the entire op-ed piece by Buckner up on website, by clicking here.
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Want to Have the Latest Energy News Delivered to Your Inbox Daily?
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.
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OSU's Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering in partnership with Fire Service Training in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology has rolled out its new Mobile Grain Bin Safety Trailer used to train farmers and emergency responders on what to do in the event of an emergency situation involving a grain bin.
All too often, farmers have been known to get stuck in grain bins, with their legs buried in grain and within seconds can be totally engulfed. Unfortunately, these situations can even turn fatal.
This new mobile training center will help train people on site and hopefully help them avoid such situations with training and education.
This project started out as an instructional DVD but now, the trailer which has a completely self contained grain entrapment trailer can be brought onsite to train farmers anywhere in the country.
"This initiative started after the Hydro accident, where we lost a fire chief in a grain bin," said Carol Jones, stored product engineering professor in Oklahoma State University's Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. "There wasn't anything they could do in there that was going to help anything. No fire department or grain elevator worker in Oklahoma should have to say they just didn't know what to do. That is not acceptable. They were doing exactly what they were trained to do."
Jones and the folks at OSU behind this project hope that this trailer will be the solution to reduce accidents in the future. Having already trained nearly 500 emergency responders, OSU hopes to see more involvement to spread their message of safety.
You can learn more about this trailer and how to register for an onsite training class, by clicking over to our website for the original story. |
All American Beef Battalion Fundraiser Set for Midday Today at the Oklahoma National Stockyards
Today marks the eighth year that the folks at National Livestock have coordinated efforts to support the All American Beef Battalion, a charitable organization that offers soldiers returning home from combat missions a warm welcome and a steak dinner.
This group is spearheaded by Bill Broadie, a veteran himself who sadly knows what it's like to return home and not receive the welcome a hero that fights for our country deserves. Like the last seven years, National Livestock will auction off a calf donated by the Runyan Family of Mill Creek, Okla. The calf will be auctioned as many times as necessary to make sure all the generous donations are collected.
"Many organizations and individuals have joined together for this worthy cause each year. The efforts of many have made this successful and we thank all our partners and friends for their help," remarked Robert York, National Livestock CEO. "The cattle community is like none that I've ever seen. People are more than willing to give a little bit of a thank you - and I am blown away by the support we've had."
As it has happened over the last few years- it will once again happen midday on the last sale day of the year at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. The charity auction will begin at approximately 11:00 a.m.this morning. York invites anyone who wishes to participate and support our soldiers, to come down and I strongly encourage it as well.
If you are unable to attend but would still like to donate, call National Livestock's offices and ask for Debbie Wedel at 800-310-0220.
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, American Farmers & Ranchers, Oklahoma Beef Council, Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Stillwater Milling Company, National 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 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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