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Last Friday, the USDA issued their quarterly Hog and Pigs Inventory report, which according to Steve Meyer with Paragon Economics, came in about as expected. The following are some of the highlights from the summary of the report issued on December 23, 2011.  

United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on December 1, 2011 was 65.9 million head. This was up 2 percent from December 1, 2010, but down 1 percent from September 1, 2011.

Breeding inventory, at 5.80 million head, was up slightly from last year, but down slightly from the previous quarter. Market hog inventory, at 60.1 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, but down 1 percent from last quarter.

When you break down the numbers on a state by state basis- Oklahoma remains the 8th largest total hog inventory state, with 2.29 million hogs residing in the state. The number of animals in the Oklahoma breeding herd- 410,000 females- is good enough to be the fifth largest state in the number of breeding animals. Iowa is number one in both of these categories- while North Carolina is number two.

After the report- the Pork Board sponsored a teleconference with reporters to hear several analysts dissect the report and look into 2012 and potential pork, poultry and beef production. We have audio from that teleconference that you can take a listen to by clicking here for all of the numbers as well as that audio.    

One Size Fits All Farm Policy Not Workable when 2012 Farm Bill Debate Restarts 

One ag policy analyst says American agriculture is too diverse for a one-size-fits-all safety net to work. Joe Outlaw of Texas A&M commends the top four leaders of the House and Senate Ag Committees for developing a farm bill outline that would have given producers a choice between shallow-loss revenue protection and higher target prices saying he doesn't believe either of these are wrong.

Outlaw says what he has the biggest problem with is for certain commodities to say a specific commodity is interested in target price or a price protection program that they can't have that.

While the super committee effort imploded, Outlaw predicts the draft safety net will ultimately be enacted into law. Outlaw adds that the process in 2012 is going to be very ugly because not every group is ready to have just one program. 

Click here for more from Joe Outlaw and to listen to our conversation with him over farm policy.

National Corn Growers Association says Russia Joining WTO May Be Beneficial

The decision to allow Russia to become a member of the World Trade Organization can be a benefit to American agriculture, the National Corn Growers Association said. WTO ministers adopted Russia's terms of entry at the Eighth Ministerial Meeting, held recently in Geneva, and Russia has 220 days to ratify its accession agreement.

"Russia's membership makes the WTO a more universal trade organization," Chad Blindauer, Chair of NCGA's Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action team said. "It also ensures Russia plays by the same rules as other WTO members.The deal allows for more fair and open trade policy."

The Working Party Chair of Russia's accession, Ambassador Stefan Johannesson of Iceland, said the "documents constituting Russia's terms of entry into the WTO resulted from a tough and successful engagement between Russia and WTO members."

As part of the accession deal, Russia has agreed to undertake further commitments to open its trade regime. This includes lowering tariffs on a wide range of agriculture products.  

Combat Cold Weather Nutritional Stress in Horses this Winter

People combat cold weather by putting on additional clothing; horses fight the elements by using more energy to maintain body temperature.

But while most people can address their own needs, horses are dependent upon their owners to provide proper nutrition and protection from the weather, said Dave Freeman, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension equine specialist.

"The temperature below which a particular horse starts to expend additional energy for maintaining body warmth (critical temperature) will vary because of fat cover, hair thickness, acclimatization of the horse to cold, hair-coat wetness and wind chill," he said.

For example, a horse with short hair, exposed to wet, cold weather, may need significantly more energy when the temperature gets below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A horse acclimatized to cold weather, with a thick hair coat and fat cover, may not expend appreciably more energy until the temperature drops below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Click here for more tips on helping horses fight cold this winter. 

Ag futures resume trade for the final days of 2011 this morning- open outcry on livestock trade starts just after 9 AM while the grain, oilseed and cotton futures begin trading at 9:30 AM central. Once trade resumes this morning, it's a normal schedule for the balance of the week- through Friday.  There will be no overnight trade next Sunday night and no open outcry trade on Monday, January 2, 2012.

Auction markets are all closed this week between Christmas and New Year's- at least we have yet to have found any market that is operating this week- and the first sales of the new year will come as early as Monday, January 2nd- as the Joplin Regional Stockyards up in southwest Missouri is planning a regular Monday sale that day.  The two largest Monday auctions in Oklahoma- the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City and the Tulsa Stockyards- will not start regular weekly auctions until Monday, January 9, 2012.   

We have several items listed in our calendar for the new year already- click here and take a look- and we invite you to email me with other meetings that you know about that need to be listed. We appreciate your help in keeping this one of the best online calendar listings of events important to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers.  

Beef Checkoff Publishes White Paper on Beef Tenderness

The beef checkoff recently published a white paper titled, "Animal Age, Physiological Maturity, and Associated Effects on Beef Tenderness", by J. Daryl Tatum, Ph.D., Colorado State University.

Conventional U.S. cattle-production systems are designed to provide consumers with a consistent supply of high-quality, grain-fed beef, which is preferred in current mainstream U.S. beef markets (both domestic and export). In grain-fed beef production systems, beef calves (steers and heifers) typically are reared on pastures with their dams until they are five- to eight-months old. After weaning, calves either are placed in feedlots immediately for grain finishing (as "calf-feds") or grown for a period of time on forage-based diets, until they are 12 to 18 months old, before placement in feedlots for finishing (as "yearlings" or "long-yearlings"). Grain-finished cattle produced in the United States normally are harvested between 12 and 24 months of age.

When beef carcasses are presented for quality grading, USDA graders examine visible indicators of physiological maturity, which are used to classify carcasses into maturity groups. At these young ages, steers and heifers are expected to produce A-maturity carcasses when they are graded by USDA. However, some of these cattle exhibit sufficient degrees of skeletal ossification to cause their carcasses to be classified as B-maturity or older, which significantly reduces carcass value and marketability.

Click here for a link to read a full copy of the beef tenderness white paper. 

Cattle Trails Cow-Calf Conference Set for Jan. 6

Cattle producers looking to pick up the latest science-based updates on cow-calf management practices should register now to attend the Jan. 6 Cattle Trails Cow-Calf Conference in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The conference is a collaborative effort between the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and Texas AgriLife Extension Service. Its purpose is to help cattle owners and operators drive their animals to profit.

"The historic drought of 2011 has placed an even greater emphasis than normal on the ability of cattle producers to make the best production and economic decisions possible for their specific operations, and that will be a particular focus of the conference," said Bob LeValley, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension area livestock specialist.

The 2012 conference will take place at the Multi-Purpose Events Center, located at 1000 5th St. in Wichita Falls. The conference will begin at 8:15 a.m. and finish at approximately 2 p.m. Cost is $25 per participant, which will include a luncheon meal, refreshment breaks and proceedings of the topics discussed at the conference.

Click here for more on this conference including registration information.