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U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, issued the following statement regarding the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction:

"The announcement by the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction means that a Farm Bill will now be written in regular order as it should be. In recent weeks, the chairs of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have worked on a Farm Bill proposal, largely without my input and the input of the other members of the two committees. The last proposal was so 'secret' that I still have not seen final legislative language and scores. Significant strides were proposed in crop insurance and conservation programs. However, I had substantial concerns about what little I knew of the direction of the commodity title and the inequitable distribution of spending reductions between commodities, conservation, nutrition and specialty crop programs."

 Click here for the rest of Senator Pat Roberts' statement. 

Politico also released an article on the announcement by the Joint Committee saying, "Left at the barn door, farm bill negotiators must now decide what can be salvaged from the supercommittee's wreckage as they shift their focus toward producing their own stand-alone legislation before the current authorization bill expires next September. It was always a shotgun marriage: the House and Senate agriculture committees would generate $23 billion in savings and get a ticket on the supercommittee's fast-moving, amendment-free deficit train. But more than most of their colleagues, the agriculture leadership did at least try, and the weeks of backroom negotiations could prove valuable still as a first Washington exercise in the need for change in agriculture policy."

Click here to read the complete article by Politico.

Gov. Mary Fallin Extends Executive Order on Transport of Hay for Second Time 

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued a second extension of an executive order allowing haulers of hay to carry larger loads in their trucks. The second extension comes in light of the ongoing struggle with drought, which has left some farmers without access to hay for livestock.

This order was originally issued on July 22 and then extended again on September 20. This second extension, which was issued on November 18, will expire after 60 days

Current rules restrict haulers of hay to dimensions of 11 feet in width. Governor Fallin's executive order increases those limits to 12 feet. Because a standard hay bale is six feet in width, this change doubles the amount of hay bales capable of being hauled per truck without a permit. 

Click here for a link to a copy of the executive order extension by Gov. Fallin. 

South Korea Ratifies Free Trade Agreement with U.S.- USMEF Hails Successful Outcome 

South Korea's ruling conservatives rammed through a bitterly contested free trade deal with the United States through parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers in Seoul scuffled and one member of the opposition let off a tear gas bomb, which forced a temporary clearing of the chamber. The final vote was 151 to 7, although a large number of lawmakers abstained from voting on the pact. 

After the vote- Danita Rodibaugh, Chairman of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, issued the following statement on the importance of this vote and the actual implementation of the FTA with South Korea.  

"Ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement by the Korean National Assembly is a successful outcome both for the U.S. agricultural sector as well as consumers in South Korea.

"Korean consumers have endured rampant food inflation, and this trade pact will provide relief. Tariffs on U.S. beef imported by Korea will drop from 40 percent to zero over 15 years, and duties on U.S. pork, which range from 22.5 percent to 25 percent, will be phased out over two years starting Jan. 1, 2014.

"For the American producers and exporters, this pact will create expanded opportunities for red meat exports to a market that has a demonstrated appetite for U.S. beef and pork. Already this year (through September), U.S. beef exports to Korea are up 45 percent in volume and 37 percent in value over 2010 levels, reaching 119,044 metric tons (262.4 million pounds) valued at $527.7 million."  

 Click here for more details on the Korean vote and statement from Danita Rodibaugh of the USMEF. 

Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese Attends Tri-National Accord

Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese attended the Tri-National Agricultural Accord in Grapevine, TX Nov. 15-18th. The Accord is a forum for information exchange among the U.S. state directors, secretaries and commissioners of agriculture; the Canadian provincial ministers of agriculture; and Mexico's state secretaries of agriculture and rural development.

The Accord provides an opportunity for Canadian provinces and U.S. and Mexican states to exchange information, views and suggestions on various aspects of the agriculture and food industries in their respective jurisdictions. The three North American countries serve as significant trading partners for one another.

North America is a significant producer of food and fiber that supports not only the continent but the world. North American farmers produced 1.2 billion metric tons of crops in 2009 which means nearly 6,000 pounds for every person on the continent. North America produces 26% of the world's beef, 13% of the world's pork, and 44% of the world's supply of corn. North American growers produced 139.4 billion eggs in 2009 and 29 million metric tons of poultry meat which equates to 20 eggs and 9 pounds of meat per person on the planet. 

Click here for more on the Tr-National Agricultural Accord.  

Efficiency is Key for Profitability in an Individual Cattle Operation and Beef Buzz with Dr. Derrell Peel 

Efficiency is important to the profitability of an individual cattle operation and to the competitiveness of the industry as a whole. In times of changing output and input values, it is very important to keep in mind what efficiency is...and what it isn't. According to Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, it is probably most common to think of efficiency in physical or technical terms, which are based on quantity of output relative to quantity of input.

This includes common production values such as feed per pound of gain and pounds of calf weaned per cow. Such physical measurements often provide the rules of thumb that guide day to day decisions in an operation.

However, most producers recognize that there are limits to the extent that physical measures of efficiency are economical. What really matters is economic efficiency, which can be thought of as the value of outputs relative to the value of inputs. This results in the important distinction between maximizing production and optimizing production.  

Click here for more from Dr. Derrell Peel on efficiency in beef production.

Where are cattle prices headed as we wrap up 2011 and look into the early months of 2012? Oklahoma State University Extension Economist Dr. Derrell Peel offers his thoughts on fed cattle price outlook, a well as where we may be on stocker calves and yearlings in the days ahead.

In particular, Peel fully expects heifer prices for stockers as well as yearlings to be on par with steer prices as there will be competition for those females to go back into the herd, as well as being turned into beef.

Click here to listen to our Beef Buzz conversation with Dr. Peel on 2012 cattle prices.

Turkey Day Schedule

Most of our livestock auctions are closed today through Friday of this week- with the final few weeks of 2011 sales picking back up next Monday.  The major Wednesday sales that we report about on the Radio Oklahoma Network- including OKC West in El Reno and the Ada Southern Livestock Market are among the markets closed for Thanksgiving. One market that will be operating on Friday after Thanksgiving is the Joplin Regional Stockyards as they hold a Special Video Sale November 25, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.  Expecting 10,000 head of Wean Vac calves and yearlings. 

The futures markets have a normal trading day today- will be closed on Thursday and then have an early close on Friday.  Overnight electronic trade for our grain and livestock futures will commence on Thursday evening at 5 pm central time in advance of the Friday open outcry. 

Government offices are closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday- but most will be open on Friday- the mail will be delivered on Friday after a day off on Thursday and we will have USDA reports like our wholesale boxed beef trade on Friday as we normally do. 

A Thanksgiving Prayer on This Turkey Eve 

Some of you that have been reading these emails over the years realize that I like to use holidays like Thanksgiving to offer a word or two about what's the most important thing in my life. This morning- I want to share with you from a little book that I simply love- written by a man by the name of Samuel Guard.  Samuel lived a century ago- and he was a broadcast pioneer- having a hand in working with Sears Roebuck in building WLS Radio in Chicago to help deliver markets and farm news and weather to rural folks across the midwest. In this later years, he wrote  "The Farmer Gives Thanks." It's a whole year's worth of prayers- from the winter season to spring planting and summer hay harvest to the fall and finally Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Here's one of Samuel's prayers for the holiday we enjoy this week-

"Lord of harvest, Keeper of our feedlots and our fields, we thank thee for a turkey that is fat.

"We thank thee for bread with butter on it.  

"We wish we could echo in these poor words the glorious autumn song of praise that rises from our frosted, browning stalks of corn, bent with ears of gold.

"Help us to be humble, just, and kind as thy Servant said- specially kind to those creatures over whom thou gave us original dominion, which we have subdued and fattened and multiplied and milked according to thy direction.  

"Make us good shepherds to them as thou art the Good Shepherd to us.  

"And make our hearts big enough to receive thy bounty in constant thanksgiving.

"Amen."

I'm thankful for many things- including each of you that are interested in what we write in this email- or what we report on the radio or TV- thank you for allowing us to have a few moments in your day as we all work together in this effort to feed and cloth the world. I pray that you will have God's blessings pour down on you this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.