Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
From: Ron Hays <ronphays@cox.net>
Date: 3/28/2018 5:45 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!  
Marketlinks


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.

 
   
FedCattleExchange.com has a total of 409 cattle on their showlist for the Wednesday, March 28th sale of finished cattle- details will be available after noon today by clicking here.
 
 
Steer and heifer calves sold 1.00 to 3.00 higher Tuesday compared to last week at OKC West click or tap here for a look at the March 27th sale results. 


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 Tuesday, March 27th.
 
  
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
   Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Howdy Neighbors! 

Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

RainfallFeatured Story:
Southeastern Oklahoma Gets the Rain- Leaving the Northwest Half of the State in the Dust

After several days of rain tracking across the state- the driest areas of Oklahoma have little to show for it- while the parts of Oklahoma that have pushed drought out the door continue to get rains to fully replenish topsoil and even subsoil moisture levels. 

For Central and Western Oklahoma- there remains a chance of rain this morning and even into Thursday- and then again on Easter Sunday and next Monday- but the large amounts of rain that eastern Oklahoma has been getting does not seem to be in the cards. 

Here's the Mesonet Rainfall map that stretches back three days to give you a feel of what those bands of rain have left behind:



Both Pryor and Inola in the northeast have topped four inches of rain this week- and Sulphur is the most impressive in the south central part of the state- checking in with 3 1/2 inches of rain. 

The most immediate concern is the winter wheat and canola crops- as they break dormancy- fields that have been waiting for rain are mostly continuing to wait for rainfall. The scattered spots in western Oklahoma that got three- four-five tenths of rain- Bessie, Guthrie and Medford- can hang on for a bit longer- but the worry persists- as does the drought. 


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.

BUZZCattleFax CEO Randy Blach Paints His Picture of the Beef Industry from the 10,000 ft. View


CattleFax CEO Randy Blach presented on several subjects over this past weekend to producers attending the Texas & Southwest Cattle Raisers Association Convention in Fort Worth. I caught up with Blach after his presentation to ask about some of the highlights of his talk - primarily the fact that the price of calves during this past year saw no seasonal low as they typically do.


"Eight out of ten years, these markets are seasonal. If we don't have anything going on in these outside markets and if grain prices aren't escalating or we're in a major drought - markets are very seasonal," Blach said. "Calf markets make their lows most years out here plus or minus October when again, 75 percent of our cow herd is spring calving and these calves come to term here in October/November. So, stands to reason why those lows occur at that time. I think we need to be prepared for that again in 2018."


One issue Blach is keeping his eye on are the tariffs that President Donald Trump is imposing on China - more specifically, the fact that US pork is being targeted in retaliation by the Chinese. Blach says this will most certainly have an indirect, but measurable impact on US beef prices.


"We're talking about the share of stomach here," he explained. "If we start seeing hiccups in the pork markets - obviously we could end up with a lot more cheap pork that would be in our domestic marketplace to have to absorb and that's where it starts to become an issue."


Listen to Blach and I discuss these topics and others, including the industry's slow response to source verification signals from the consumer and growth opportunities in China, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.
SelkKeep Replacement Heifers' Nutritional Management Front of Mind as Spring Breeding Season Nears

This week, Dr. Glenn Selk reminds and encourages producers with replacement heifers not to let their cattle's nutritional management slide this spring, as we approach breeding season when he insists it is more important than ever.



According to research referenced by Selk in his article for the Cow/Calf Corner newsletter, heifers (near the time of reaching puberty) undergo a severe reduction in dietary intake of protein and especially energy, which can cause breeding success to be potentially disappointing. Selk described the findings of a study conducted in 2001 by OSU researchers on this matter.



"The effects of acutely restricting nutrition on ovulation and metabolic hormones were evaluated in Angus x Hereford heifers," he writes. "All of the heifers were housed in individual pens in a barn and fed a diet supplying 120% of their maintenance requirements for protein and energy (1.2 M) for 10 days to allow time to adjust to the environment and diet. All of the heifers were determined to be cycling at the conclusion of this adjustment period. Then the heifers were split into two groups. Half of the heifers were then fed a diet supplying either 40% of their maintenance requirements (.4 M). The other half of the heifers were continued on the original diet that supplied 120% (1.2 M) of the maintenance requirements.



Restricting nutrient intake for 14 days prevented ovulation in a large percentage of these heifers without altering visible body condition. Selk concludes that heifers should be managed to avoid short-term nutrient restriction to maintain normal estrous cycles.


 
Want to read Selk's full article to learn more about this study? Jump over to our website by clicking here.

CropLifeCropLife Partners Demonstrate the Global Importance of Keeping Pesticide Safety Data Transparent

Thanks to federal laws that require the EPA to make pesticide safety data available to the public, the US has risen to be a world leader in agricultural transparency. As such, CLA fell in with its international partners this week to launch a voluntary commitment to enable more public access to pesticide product safety data for non-commercial use.


Stemming from a commitment to transparency, responsibility and sustainability, CLA said in a release that the pesticide industry hopes to elucidate the existing regulatory process of certifying new products. This initiative focuses on the EU and addresses the safety, efficacy and benefits of crop protection products.


Federal law has for decades required EPA to make pesticide safety data available to the American public, allowing interested parties to confirm that pesticide products are safe when used according to the label. It also ensures that this information is not misused by competitors - but also fosters competitive innovation and ensures new technologies reach today's farmers.
 

Click here to read more about this story in the original article found on our website.


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.

Click here to go to their AFR website to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

USFRAUS Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Makes it Easier than Ever to Advocate on Ag's Behalf with New App

Our own Carson Horn recently had the chance to speak with Liz Ireland, social media manager for the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, who talked about some of the organization's recent efforts to help producers spread the good word about agriculture.


Since its inception, USFRA has worked to offer farmers helpful tools to get out in front of today's consumers with their personal stories and experiences from the farm. However, with the recent release of their newest online communications tool called, engAGe, Ireland says it will be easier than ever for producers to do just that.


"engAGe is a communications app and what we do is we aggregate important agriculture-based news stories, consumer focused stories, and put them on this app," she explained. "We also add social posts to each of these stories. So, for farmers and ranchers who are busy, who can't really give the time to social media that they wish they could, we do that work for them."


Ireland says all you have to do is simply connect your social media accounts with the app and with the click of a button, engAGe will keep your accounts actively generating pertinent and relevant content, with enhanced SEO function that allows your posts to be readily searchable on the internet or whatever social channel you're using. Most impressive about this app - is how easy USFRA has made it to share meaningful content.


Learn more about the engAGe app, here, or listen to Ireland explain at length its benefits in her full interview with Carson, by clicking or tapping here.

CABIn the Beef Business, CAB Beef Cattle Specialist Paul Dykstra Explains how Relationships Sell Calves


Marketing calves today seems less related to the traditional handshake, observation and trust, but relationships are still important.


"Well we have certainly had an opportunity to introduce technology to feeder cattle marketing, which has made the platform on which we do business much more rapid and as a result," said Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist for the Certified Angus Beef brand. "I think, marketing has become much less personalized and simply more based on convenience and volume in a very limited amount of time that we offer a lot of cattle for sale."


Although buyers may not find enough details, the Internet, video and cell-phone alerts help them find cattle that fit commodity needs. Along with nutrition and health details, that kind of information not only assures accurate pricing, but also allows accurate feeding to bring out the best in the cattle. As much as greater detail helps, it won't replace the human connections.



"I think the best opportunity to merchandise feeder cattle and build a brand for a cow-calf operation is simply those personal relationships," Dykstra concluded. "May sound too simple, but in my experience those relationships pay off far more than any word of mouth or advertising that might be done certainly more than what can be written on paper is reputation of trustworthiness and quality product from one human to another is almost priceless."
 

Read the full story from CAB or watch a short video clip featuring Dykstra discussing the need for technical details in cattle marketing, along with the traditional key of personal reputation and relationships, by clicking here.
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.

 

CoBankRobotic Milking Systems Slowing Farm Consolidation as Tech's Adoption Expected to Grow Annually 


According to a new report by CoBank, robotic milking machines are helping sustain small to medium sized dairy farms amid broader industry consolidation.


Dairy robots, also referred to as automated milking systems, come in a variety of forms and offer a cost-efficient alternative to traditional dairy labor, which has become more expensive and harder to find in many regions of the US.
 

Ben Laine, senior analyst with CoBank says, "As the technology improves and labor costs increase, we will see the tradeoffs continue to shift in favor of robotics. However, the future growth of this technology and possible broader adoption will be centered on labor costs, milk production per robot, and proximity to dealers and service technicians."
 

Despite some obvious advantages to automated systems, Laine suggests there is still ample uncertainty regarding a unit's useful life and efficiency that will give many producers pause.


The full report and a brief video synopsis is available for you to review by
clicking here.


Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K EquipmentAmerican Farmers & Ranchers, 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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