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It's not every day that a walk to your mailbox leads to an opportunity to help shape farm programs, boost rural services and grow your farm future. But for producers across the country, that opportunity has arrived or will arrive in the next few days. The 2012 Census of Agriculture, the only source of consistent and comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the nation, is currently being mailed to millions of farmers and ranchers across the United States. 

Conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the Census provides detailed data covering nearly every facet of U.S. agriculture. It looks at land use and ownership, production practices, expenditures and other factors that affect the way farmers do business and succeed in the 21st Century.

By the way- you are required to respond. Everyone who receives a Census form in the mail is required to respond- even if you did not farm or ranch in 2012.  

The 2012 Ag Census can be filled out on line.  We featured comments from Renee Picanso with the National Ag Statistics Service of the USDA about that method of participating in the Ag Census on our Wednesday morning farm and ranch news- click here to take a listen.  

And- click here for our webstory on the Ag Census which has a link on over to the AgCensus webpages that are a part of the USDA website.

Looking Back on 2012- Drought Costs Oklahomans $400 Million This Calendar Year  

Data that was gathered by researchers at Oklahoma State University helped paint a picture of the financial cost that drought in 2012 has extracted from Oklahoma's farmers and ranchers- as well as the general economy.

When you tally everything up- Oklahoma absorbed more than $400 million in losses in 2012 due to the ongoing drought. The estimated $426,125,520 in losses include crops and livestock, as well as two new measures, wildfire property losses and municipal costs. Combined with last year's $1.6 billion setback, the state has suffered more than $2 billion in drought-related agricultural losses since 2011.

"From the crops and livestock perspectives, there were much lower impacts this year that don't necessarily speak to the severity of the drought," said Dave Shideler, OSU Cooperative Extension economist for economic development. "Conditions were still very severe, and farmers and ranchers will need to continue to be careful about the ways they manage their land and herds."

Click here for this story  from November of this year- a story that definitely qualifies as one that has shaped Oklahoma Agriculture in a most significant way in 2012.

Angus Breed Registrations Up Seven Percent Over a Year Ago- Oklahoma's Express Ranches Leads the Way

Cattle herd inventory numbers remain somber this year; down more than 1.9 million from 2011 to 2012, according to recent numbers reported by CattleFax. Breeders are faced with tough decisions and need reliable solutions to keep their operations running.

Despite the downward industry trends, the American Angus Association reports a nearly 7% increase in registrations. A total of 315,007 animals were recorded during fiscal year (FY) 2012, which began Oct. 1, 2011, and ended Sept. 30, 2012.

Oklahoma is the fifth largest state in the US when it comes to Angus registrations in the just concluded Fiscal Year- and Express Ranches of Yukon is the top individual breeder in the country when it comes to registrations of purebred Angus animals.  

Click here for the full story to get more on the top states when it comes to Angus Breed registrations- as well as the rest of the top ten breeders in the Angus breed this past year- based on the number of animals registered.  

Joint Oklahoma Texas Cattle Conference Set for January 15 in Lawton

Cattle producers looking to pick up the latest information about drought recovery and its potential effects on their operations should register now to attend the Jan. 15 Cattle Trails Cow-Calf Conference in Lawton.

The annual conference is a joint effort between the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, with the intent of helping producers drive their operations toward profit. Marty New, Comanche County Extension director and agricultural educator, said profit margins can be tight in the best of times, and the last few years have been anything but the "best of times" for most cattle producers in drought-stricken areas.


"Think of the conference as one-stop shopping," he said. "The most up-to-date information will be presented and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of and interact with some of the region's premier cattle-management experts, as well as other producers who are in positions similar to them." The Jan. 15 conference - which alternates between Oklahoma and Texas each year - will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Comanche County Fairgrounds' Great Plains Coliseum, located at 920 S. Sheridan in Lawton.

They have got a great lineup of speakers- and we have details about that in our webstory- click here to check it out.

Wayne Pacelle Drops his Bid for Board Seat of Tyson Foods

According to Meatingplace, the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, has dropped his bid to be elected to the Board of Directors of Tyson Foods.   

Meatingplace received confirmation from a spokesman for Tyson, Worth Sparkman. Pacelle, confirming he is no longer seeking a seat on Tyson's board, told Meatingplace the company's dual-class stock structure was a barrier to his election, and it became clear that the company would not support his nomination.

"I had hoped that Tyson Foods would see the value, given the prominence of animal rights issues in our society, of having someone like me on its board," Pacelle said by phone.

Pacelle and the HSUS were using the campaign to get onto the Tyson Board as leverage to promote forcing the pork industry away from gestation crates and into group housing.  Pacelle and his organization have decided that this is the proper way to raise hogs in confinement- and have aggressively pushed other companies into setting a date when they will only source pork from animals produced by not using gestation crates. Tyson is easily the biggest target for the animal rights extremist group that has not yet made this type of commitment.  

Sparkman said Tyson buys hogs from thousands of independent hog farmers, and some use gestation stalls.

"While we support the right of farmers to choose the best method for raising their hogs, we also support our customers' right to choose the best product specifications for their consumers and businesses. The availability of pork from hogs born to group-penned sows is currently very limited; however, we will monitor this supply and, if there's a sufficient increase over time, we'll explore the possibility of using it to meet the needs of those customers who want pork from hogs raised this way," Sparkman said in the statement.

Pacelle, in his blog on the HSUS website, boasted in a December 20th review of 2012 regarding victories for animals that the battle is going their way as "50 major companies have announced plans to eliminate gestation crates from their supply chains."  

The National Pork Producers Council disputes that group housing is best for the well being of the sows and the humans that care for the sows.  They have a fact sheet on a website called porkcares.org that is entitled "Answers About Gestation Crates-" click here to jump over there to read their counterpoint on the value of gestation crates for sows.  

Light Cash Trade in Southern Plains Feedlots Ends Higher Last Week- Ed Czerwein Offers His Weekly Analysis

In this week's beef report with Ed Czerwien, USDA Market News Office in Amarillo, Texas, the choice cut market ended the week of December 22, 2012 at $193.09 cwt, $1.60 lower than the previous week. The total spot volume was 948 loads with the total volume of all cuts at 7,014 loads.


The general trend in the finished cattle trade was $1.50 to $3.00 higher in light trade last week with live deals mostly at $126 to $127 cwt. Dressed deals were at $2.00 to $202 higher.

Click here for Ed's audio review of this past week's cattle and beef trade across the country.