Cattle Groups React to USDA Moving on GIPSA- We Talk With Colin Woodall of NCBA

The USDA has submitted modified sections of the proposed GIPSA livestock marketing rule as Final and Interim Rules for review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Final Rule contains provisions required by the 2008 Farm Bill-the sections related to suspension of delivery of birds, additional capital investment criteria, breach of contract and arbitration-in addition to a section on swine and poultry sample contracts. The separate Interim Rule contains a modified version of the section on poultry tournament systems and is open for additional public comment.

USDA indicates that they are no longer pursuing several provisions from the original proposal, including the sections that prohibit packer-to-packer sales, prohibit a packer buyer from buying for more than one packer and require packers to maintain records. The remaining provisions from the original proposed rule remain under consideration, meaning USDA will not be submitting, at least not anytime soon, the sections that prohibit undue preferences or the section that changes the definition of competitive injury.  

While the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has yet to issue an official statement on these developments, we had the opportunity to talk on Friday afternoon with Colin Woodall of their Washington, DC office about several aspects of this latest move by the USDA.  Woodall expresses relief that the immediate moves by USDA leaves the beef industry out of additional regulation- he adds "we are not out of the woods yet" because of the parts of the GIPSA Rule that USDA promises to continue to noodle over. Click here for our full conversation with Woodall- it provides a LOT of insight into what NCBA sees as continued red flags from the GIPSA process.

We have statements that have come from both the National Farmers Union as well as the Organization for Competitive Markets- click on the respective name of the group to view their comments- both groups say the rules unveiled Thursday night/Friday morning were a start- and they urge USDA to finish the job-especially in the area of competitive injury.     

OSU's Totusek Lectureship Features Dave DeLaney of King Ranch 

Oklahoma State University Animal Science Department hosted the Totusek Lectureship this week and featured Dave DeLaney, the General Manager of Ranch Operations for King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. DeLaney covered a variety of topics including the history of King Ranch, as well as, many changes that are occurring too. 

DeLaney says King Ranch is so unique because of the family, which has a generational outlook and they are dedicated to keeping the land as a working ranch operation. There are many other alternative land uses but they choose to use it basically as a working laboratory says DeLaney. With an incredible wildlife habitat, King Ranch is working towards a way to make the livestock and ranching industry compatible with wildlife in a working ranch setting.

In fact, the wildlife operation makes up at least half of the income of the ranch says DeLaney. Developing since the late 1980s, the wildlife operation at King Ranch has served as an excellent way to hedge against drought and bad cattle markets. DeLaney says that the ranch has been profitable every year for several years and a great extent of that is because of the wildlife component. 

Click here to listen to our conversation with DeLaney on King Ranch. 

KCBT Sets New Annual Trading Volume Records For Hard Red Winter Wheat

 The Kansas City Board of Trade during the month of October set new annual trading volume records in the Hard Red Winter wheat futures contract and the exchange as a whole.

Through October 31, a total of 5,646,965 HRW wheat futures contracts or 28.23 billion bushels had traded, exceeding last year's annual volume record of 5,549,842 contracts or 27.75 billion bushels by 1.8 percent with two months remaining to build on the record. The KCBT hard red winter wheat futures contract is the world benchmark pricing mechanism for bread wheat.

Total exchange volume also set an annual volume record this month with a total of 5,873,465 contracts traded, exceeding last year's annual volume record of 5,697,874 contracts by 3.1 percent with two months remaining in the year. 

Click here for more from KCBT on this trading volume record.

Learning From the Drought of 2011

The drought of 2011 will not soon be forgotten, according to Chuck Coffey, Senior Ag Consultant at the Noble Foundation. It's been a year of record low rainfall and record high temperatures. Figure 1, which can be found by following the link below, depicts 2011 rainfall and temperature for Oklahoma compared to the averages for the last 30 years.

And many of you did not receive anywhere close to the 5 inches of rainfall recorded in May. In my travels across the region, I have seen many overgrazed pastures, dried up ponds, springs and creeks that are no longer flowing and wells that have gone dry.

There was some localized rain (2 to 3 inches) in September, but most producers did not receive an amount significant enough to grow late season forage or to be confident in planting winter pasture. So what's in store for the future?

Click here for more from Chuck Coffey on the drought of 2011.

Certified Angus Beef Sets Sales Record in 2011

Cerified Angus Beef reached record sales again. Coming in with the fifth consecutive year of growth in sales, CAB is seeing a definite increase in beef demand. The CAB brand's licensed partners marketed about 807 million pounds of beef, which is almost a 4% increase since 2010.

Randy Blach of CattleFax says CAB is growing at a more rapid pace than even what is being seen with just the average domestic beef demand across the country. Blach adds that many consumers are picking higher quality when they go to retail stores to ensure a better quality eating experience.

The CAB sales growth was balanced across the board with increases among steaks, end meats, and ground beef. Food service was also up by about 11% and the international sales grew by about 13%. Blach says that this is an opportunity globally because of growing population and U.S. producers are providing a high quality product. 

Click here to watch the latest video from CAB on record sales. 

Badly Needed Rain Headed Straight at the State 

Already, rainfall amounts along a band from the Red River south of Ardmore northeast to the Miami area have been impressive, with flood warnings out in southern portions of the state.  A couple of Oklahoma Mesonet sites have received in excess of five inches of rain- and with those kind of totals- we made get runoff and ponds and lakes having water levels finally on the rise after the drought of 2011. 

Ahead- the National Weather Service sees a lot more rainfall in other parts of the state- including parched western Oklahoma.  The latest weather forecast discussion reads "By mid morning rich Gulf moisture for this time of year will be in
place region wide. Numerous thunderstorms are expected this
morning- with greater concentration of storms beneath a jet stream
disturbance in western and northern Oklahoma. These storms will
produce frequent lightning, heavy rain and small hail. Another
jet stream disturbance will arrive from southwest Texas early this
afternoon and this will maintain a chance of thunderstorms in
northern, southern and eastern Oklahoma."

Click here for the latest rainfall totals for the state- we have this as a realtime picture that will continue to update- we have set it as the last 48 hours. And we remind you we have a link to our weather page on our website up on the left hand column under "Quick Links." That gets you News9, News on 6, Mesonet and the National Weather Service.

   

Kudos This Monday Morning to Dale DeWitt, Tammi Didlot, Walt Olson and Chris Hitch  

Rep. Dale DeWitt has been named the next Majority Floor Leader of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Rep. DeWitt has previously served as the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee and as well as the Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee. House Speaker Kris Steele named DeWitt, R-Braman, to the position Friday to replace outgoing Floor Leader Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, who is leaving office later this month. DeWitt will become Floor Leader effective Dec. 1. Click here to read more about Rep. DeWitt's new position.  

We also offer Congrats to Tammi Didlot who was saluted on Saturday night at the Diamond Hats Ball as the 2011 Agri Woman of the Year by the Diamond Hats group. Tammi is currently serving as not only the President of the Oklahoma Cattlewomen- but is also the President Elect of the American National Cattlewomen.   

At the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Convention a week ago- a pair of Oklahomans are now in the officer rotation for the organization that represents feedlots in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Walt Olson with Tri-State Feeders in Turpin is now the Chairman Elect of the group- while their new Vice Chairman is Chris Hitch of Hitch Enterprises in Guymon.