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The day that the country chooses to remember the Civil Rights Leader of the 1960s is a quasi holiday for our country.  Government offices are closed, as are banks and the equity and futures markets.    

That means no mail service today- and if you needed to talk to someone at the NRCS or FSA or Extension office- you'll have to plan to do that tomorrow- at the earliest. 

However, many other businesses are open as normal today- and for livestock producers- most of the auction markets here in our part of the country have their regular Monday sales planned for this 16th of January.  

Our email this morning will be a little shorter than normal- and several elements that have to do with the markets will be repeated in tomorrow's email as well.   

Manage Your Beef Operation to Have Something to Sell 

Manage your beef cattle operation in such a way that you will have something to sell. That's the advice of OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel in today's Beef Buzz. Dr. Peel tells us that if you have beef animals to sell- they will likely sell for a relatively high price- so if you have had to cull your beef cow herd because of the 2012 drought and will have fewer calves to sell in the next year or so- you may want to consider running a few stockers as you gradually rebuild your mama cow numbers, assuming you have forage to support them.


Dr. Peel adds that the market has made a couple of fundamental shifts when it comes to input costs over the last couple of years- including the fact that feed grain prices are now on a higher plateau- and it's unlikely that we will see $2 corn again anytime soon. In tandem with that rise is the way the market is now valuing forage at a higher level as well. That was happening even before the historic drought of 2011- which has made hay extremely expensive for at least this season. Peel believes that as we pull out of drought and are able to recover our productive capacity in our pastures and rangelands- we probably need to manage our forage resources better going forward, as the pounds of gain that we can pull off of those fields are worth more than a while back when pounds of gain off grain was cheaper.

- the Beef Buzz is a regular radio feature heard on great radio stations across this region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- we have previous Beef Buzz shows up on our website- just go to OklahomaFarmReport.Com and click on the Beef Buzz button on the left hand side of any page.   

A Call for Permanency in the Estate Tax

The following is an editorial set of comments offered by Kent Bacus, National Cattlemen's Beef Association manager of legislative affairs. He opines about the current status of the Estate Tax.


"If you're like me, you enjoy watching the History Channel and Discovery Channel. I enjoy learning about other cultures and civilizations and listening to experts discuss how mankind has advanced throughout the years and make predictions on what the future will hold. Lately, a theme has revolved around what will happen on Dec. 21, 2012. Many ancient cultures have predicted that some major, perhaps apocalyptic, event will happen on that day. Perhaps the ancient Mayans were a few days off. For the beef industry, our real concern is what will happen after Dec. 31, 2012.


"One of the most important issues facing family farmers and ranchers and small business owners nationwide is the future of the estate tax, more commonly referred to as the death tax.

"As Congress begins the second session of the 112th Congress, it's time, once again, to turn our attention to providing permanent relief from the death tax. If Congress fails to act by the end of this year, the estate tax will revert to a staggering $1 million exemption with a 55 percent tax rate. Increasing production costs, rising property values and an uncertain tax code make it difficult to form a business plan, much less plan for the future of your estate. We cannot afford for the estate tax to continue being a political football that is punted year after year. We need permanency in the tax code."

There's more from Bacus- and you can click here to read his full editorial on why this is a priority issue for many in agriculture- and his thoughts on how to approach Congress on this issue in 2012.

Antibiotic Resistances From Animal to Human Overstated 

From the weekly Texas Cattle Feeders electronic newsletter- we read that Antibiotic Resistances From Animals To Humans Is Lower Than Reported, according to research from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

British researchers are calling policies to restrict antibiotic use in animals "simplistic," citing a study in which they found few correlations between antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance in humans.

The researchers used long-term surveillance data of Salmonella typhimurium DT104 from humans and animals in Scotland. They found that just 22 out of the 5,200 isolates studied were resistant in both animals and humans. Of those 22, just five were identified first in the animal isolates, suggesting that animals were an unlikely source of antibiotic resistance in humans. 

"We infer that the sympatric animal population is unlikely to be the major source of resistance diversity for humans," according to the report. "This suggests that current policy emphasis on restricting antimicrobial use in domestic animals may be overly simplistic."
       

The report comes at a time when the European Parliament is considering proposals to phase out the precautionary use of some antibiotics in animals to slow human antimicrobial resistance.  

We have tracked down the full article from the University of Glasgow's website- click here to jump across the Atlantic and take a read.

Assess Your Damage as You Consider Pasture Renewal After Drought 

Following drought, stand damage is readily apparent even on well-managed pastures. Since the drought occurred when warm-season grass pastures were actively growing, it is almost certain that root growth was restricted, in addition to the more obvious decline in forage yield. Daren Redfearn of Oklahoma State University says that the extent of stand damage due to differences in soil types, fertility practices, grazing management, pasture species, and harvest management are somewhat easy to determine.

Dr. Redfearn looks at all of these areas- and he tells us that depending on the amount of stand damage- grazing can begin again fairly soon. "Slightly damaged stands (less than 30% stand loss) should recover quickly with weed control, proper fertility, and deferred grazing or harvest once satisfactory growing conditions return. Stands that are moderately damaged (between 30% and 60% stand loss) should fully recover with weed control, proper fertility, and deferred grazing or harvest."  The fields that have received the most severe damage- more than a 60% stand loss- will take a great deal of patience as a land owner brings them back to full health.  

Click here for Dr. Redfearn's full article on pasture recovery- he will be offering additional guidance in the form of several more articles in the next few weeks that can help point producers in the right direction on reestablishing your pastures.  

Congrats to Miss Oklahoma- Betty Thompson 

Betty Thompson of Davenport did Oklahoma proud on Saturday evening- as her name was called first runnerup in the Miss America contest.   

Betty showed off her amazing talent of Irish Dancing- and handled the questions asked of her in a very mature and thoughtful way- and while we believe she should have won- she was fabulous.

Of course- we have mentioned to you before that agriculture had a special interest in Betty's efforts to become Miss America- she grew up on a Dairy farm- and had as her Miss Oklahoma platform the nutritional education of school children- and specifically speaking to kids about including dairy in their diets, promoting the idea of "Milk, it does a body good."  

Those efforts will continue during the remainder of her year as Miss Oklahoma- and we salute her efforts in Las Vegas this past week- as well as the efforts as both Miss OSU and Miss Oklahoma to tell story of agriculture in such a positive way.