The clock continues to tick on the 2012 Farm Bill Process as four key Ag Committee leaders and their staffs are trying to pull together a Commodity Title to liking of all four lawmakers. House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Minority Member Pat Roberts of the Senate Ag Committee were both in Amarillo, Texas Monday morning, speaking to the 2011 Convention of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. After they spoke at the opening general session- they bolted for the airport and a flight back to Washington. Lucas and Roberts are two of the four key lawmakers who are trying to assemble a complete Farm Bill proposal to offer up to the so called Super Committee- the body that is trying to develop a $1.2 trillion plan to attack the current Federal Government deficit.

After the presentation by first Senator Pat Roberts and then Congressman Lucas at the TCFA meeting on Monday morning in Amarillo- the cattle feeder audience was invited to serve up some questions for the lawmakers. 

Click here for our story that has the explanation by Senator Roberts about Fugitive Dust- truly vintage Pat Roberts. 

In the latest Crop Weather Update, the focus was on our fall seeded crops- "Several rains during the past month have benefited the wheat, rye and canola planted, although emergence has been behind normal due to the late planting. The condition of wheat and rye was rated mostly good to fair and canola was rated mostly fair. Additional rainfall is needed to replenish the huge deficit of subsoil moisture, as the state was still in a severe to exceptional drought as of the October 25th Drought Monitor.  

For our fall-planted crops- "Planting of most small grains and canola were winding down this past week. The condition of wheat, rye and canola already emerged was rated mostly good to fair. Wheat planting reached 90 percent complete, up 8 points from the previous week and 68 percent was emerged. Canola planting was virtually complete by Sunday and 87 percent of canola had emerged.  

The harvest of row crops continued, with most crops behind the five-year average. Corn harvest was virtually complete by Sunday. Sorghum coloring was 93 percent complete by the end of the week. Seventy-seven percent of sorghum had matured, and 37 percent was harvested by Sunday, 11 points behind normal. Soybeans mature reached 70 percent complete by week's end, and 37 percent of soybeans had been harvested, 10 points behind normal. Eighty-nine percent of peanuts had matured by Sunday and 68 percent were dug. Almost half of the peanuts had been combined by week's end, nine points behind the five-year average. Cotton plants opening bolls reached 92 percent complete and 27 percent of cotton had been harvested by week's end."

Short hay supplies continued to be a major concern for producers while little hay was cut this past week. Third cuttings of alfalfa were 71 percent complete, and 17 percent of the state had completed a fourth cutting, compared to a five-year average of 100 percent. A second cutting of other hay was 57 percent complete by Sunday, 29 points behind normal.

Click here for the complete Crop Weather Update as of Monday, October 31, 2011.

The last 30 days has brought significant rainfall to parts of Oklahoma. Much of the central and south central parts of the state have received very timely rains with respect to wheat production. Winter wheat planting is about on track compared to normal at this time of the year. Some was dry planted earlier and some is just now being planted.

However, wheat emergence is below normal for this date and last week, 42 percent of the Oklahoma wheat crop was rated fair with 32 percent good and 4 percent excellent. According to Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, this confirms that the wheat crop is late and will result in little grazing potential for the remainder of 2011.

Depending on winter weather and additional moisture, there may be limited grazing potential after January 1. All of this is to say that winter wheat will provide little fall forage. To the extent that any wheat grazing potential develops through the winter, the wheat is likely to be used mostly for cows rather than for stockers.  

The future of the beef industry is filled with both opportunities and challenges due to the 2011 drought in the Southern Plains, high price of grains, volatility in the commodity markets and fewer dollars available for research and education. According to Steve Swigert, Ag Consultant at the Noble Foundation, the consolidation of the industry will continue with more beef produced by fewer producers and with fewer cows.

Supply chains will continue to be more and more prevalent and, in general, the beef industry will have fewer participants. We are already seeing this trend as the largest 10 percent of the cow-calf producers raise 54 percent of the cows, the largest 2 percent of the feedyard ownership groups feed 86 percent of the fed cattle and the three largest packers harvest 82 percent of the fed cattle.

In the second half of 2011, drought conditions have caused historic reductions in cow numbers across Oklahoma and Texas, and there is practically zero stocker grazing expected due to the lack of wheat. Even though relocation to northern grass has kept some cows in production, many went to slaughter.

Click here for more from Steve Swigert on the 2012 beef industry.

Our first two Beef Buzz shows of the week hit a couple of familiar topics- and we wanted to link you to both of them so you could hear these updates.

First- our Monday Beef Buzz featured Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association- and we talked the impact of drought on Scott's members at the OCA- both short term but very importantly as well- long term. Click here for that Monday Beef Buzz with Scott Dewald. 

Our Tuesday Beef Buzz spins out of the Q&A session from the opening general session of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association in Amarillo on Monday. One of the questions raised to Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas and Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas at that meeting had to do with the marketing rule changes proposed by USDA last June known as GIPSA.  Senator Roberts had little nice to say- and you can hear his comments as well as the thoughts of Frank Lucas on our Tueday Beef Buzz. Click here for that show.

The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on many of our great radio stations that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we archive previous Beef Buzz reports on our website as well.  

While on the road back from the TCFA on Monday afternoon- grabbed several pictures that you may want to check out- first we saw multiple irrigated cotton fields ready for harvest and looking really pretty good. Click here to see one such cotton field off of Hext Road which is west of Sayre.  

We also updated our wheat picture set with two stops- one just barely emerging wheat field at the edge of Canute- as well as a field that was a little more developed into a mostly green carpet look.  Click here for those wheat pictures- and we have a link on both stories that takes you to our Flickr account and more pictures up yonder in cyberspace.  Our 2012 WheatWatch is sponsored in part by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. 

No-till on the Plains will be hosting an Agriculture's Innovative Minds Symposium on November 15 - 17, 2011 in Nebraska City, Neb. The three day symposium will be focusing on holistic management and helping producers that have been questioning their decision-making skills in 2011.  The deadline to register for the symposium is today- Tuesday, November 1. This workshop will enable producers to better arrive at those important day-to-day decisions and ensure that their operation is on the right path. Click here for more information on this symposium.