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For the second year in a row, Logan Davis of the Newcastle FFA saw his steer chosen as the Champion Crossbred steer by judge Paul Clapp of Ankeny, Iowa. Clapp was the judge both years- he did not choose the Crossbred in 2011 as the Grand- but Logan Davis shook the hand of Clapp in 2012 as the veteran judge chose his steer this go round as the best of show at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. Click here for our full story on Logan and a full rundown of all Steer Breed Champions and Reserves at the OYE.

The Reserve Grand Champion Steer at the 2012 OYE was the Champion Maine Anjou, shown by Macy Griswold of the Perkins Tryon FFA.  

For the second time in three years, Tyler Rhodes has won the big prize for those showing sheep at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. In 2010, Rhodes showed "Bob" and won the Grand Championship of that year's Lamb Drive after being named the Natural Color Champion- and here in 2012- it was the Champion Hampshire that was singled out by judge Marvin Ensor to be the best of the show- owned by this sophomore from Indiahoma FFA.  

The Reserve Grand Champion Barrow at the 2012 OYE was the Reserve Champion Hampshire, shown by Luke Davis of the Guthrie FFA.      

Read more about Rhodes and his 2012 victory- and take a look at the breed champion and reserve list by clicking here.  

Cheyenne Gaff of the Timberlake FFA Chapter cried- so did her family- and they were tears of joy as the freshman in High School heard her barrow called out as the best of more than 2,800 barrows shown on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the 2012 Oklahoma Youth Expo. Gaff told us her hog, named Cyclone, placed third overall in Enid at the district show- but bloomed into a full blown storm that took the big prize at the statewide show on Sunday afternoon.   

The Reserve Grand Champion Barrow at the 2012 OYE was the Champion Crossbred, shown by Colt Conner of the Tuttle FFA.

Read more about the Grand Champion barrow drive- and the full list of the breed champions and reserves by clicking here. 

We have over 1,700 pictures from the 2012 OYE now in our set up on Flickr.  They are arranged in chronological order- so you can scroll thru and see the various shows from the first weekend through Sunday afternoon of the second weekend- go and check them out- click here to jump straight to our Flickr set. 

NPCC Vice President Addresses Oklahoma Pork Producers' Concerns at Pork Congress 

One of the speakers at the Oklahoma Pork Council's recent Pork Congress was Audrey Adamson. She is the vice president for domestic policy issues with the National Pork Producers Council. She said there are several issues of concern facing pork producers, but two in particular seem to keep cropping up from time to time.

In Oklahoma, especially, she says, animal rights groups have begun targeting pork producers. She says they seem to be focusing on Sooner producers in particular because of the state's high ratio of breeding operations. She says facilities that use gestation crates are an easy target because the animal rights groups can prey on an ignorant public.

Another key issue that Adamson addressed was the continually rising price of inputs. Producers can only do so much. They can't control the weather. They can't control the economy. They are limited to controlling their operations as best they can in changing circumstances. One thing that does not help is when the federal government gets involved in choosing winners and losers. One of the issues which the NPPC has been working on of late is to try and head off pressure on the federal government to name corn ethanol as an "advanced biofuel." Such a label would, by government fiat, increase demand and therefore increase the price of corn. Obviously, pork producers would be caught in the squeeze-there are no alternatives for feed. 

To read more of Audrey Adamson's comments or to hear an audio interview with her, click here.

Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe Talks Overregulation and More with Ron Hays at Oklahoma Peanut Expo 

Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe stopped by the 2012 Oklahoma Peanut Expo this past Friday- and updated the farmers at the meeting about several subjects- including the Obama Administration's continuing efforts to mandate a cap and trade greenhouse gas emission regulatory by fiat.   Inhofe believes that the Obama White House has let the foot off the gas peddle this election year on regulatory efforts against agriculture and energy- saying that "President Obama has even said he's for natural gas when he has worked against it for the last three years" and that they have been derailed for the time being on mandating regulations on farm dust.

The Senator told us in our conversation before his comments to the Peanut Expo- and then repeated to the farmers gathered that he would not talk about farm policy- as he relies on Oklahoma Third District Congressman Frank Lucas, who is the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, as his barometer on how to vote on farm policy issues.


On politics- Senator Inhofe missed on his call two years ago when he predicted the Republicans would take over control of the US Senate. He is confident that he won't be wrong this year- again predicting GOP control in the House and the Senate come January 2012. He says that he sees a net gain of around seven seats and thinks the Senate will see a GOP "majority plus three" margin next year.  

Click here for our full story- where you can click and listen to our audio conversation with the Senator- and you can watch a YouTube that is a preview of his recently released book- The Greatest Hoax.  

Roberts Ranch Receives Oklahoma Environmental Stewardship Award at Oklahoma Pork Congress

Safeguarding natural resources is one of the ethical principles the pork industry strives toward each and every day. Those ethical principles provide the pillars of the industry.

Roberts Ranch of Oklahoma has exemplified a commitment at the Trails End #2 Sow Farm and the Oklahoma Pork Council is pleased to name Trails End #2 the recipient of the 2012 Oklahoma Environmental Steward Award.

Trails End #2 is a 10,500 head sow breeding, gestation, and farrowing farm located near Ames, Okla. The farm sets on 560 acres of land that teems with wildlife.

Bill Barnes, who is responsible for the implementation and record keeping of the environmental operation aspects at Trails End #2, said location of the site was a major consideration before construction began.

"We take pride in what we do," Barnes said. "So, not only are we concerned about doing the right thing, we take pride in doing it. We want to make sure we are taking care of the land and the natural resources associated with that land - so future generations can enjoy them as much as we have."  

Click here to read more about this year's Environmental Steward Award winner. 

WheatWatch 2012: Wheat Disease Update, Week Ending March 16 PLUS Wheat Pics from Southwest Oklahoma  

Oklahoma's unusually warm weather continued last week favoring wheat growth and, in some cases, growth of disease and pests. Bob Hunger, Extension Wheat Pathologist with Oklahoma State University compiles a weekly report on crop disease progression in Oklahoma and surrounding states. These WheatWatch 2012 reports are a service of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Check out their website by clicking here for more wheat news and marketing information.

OKLAHOMA: Although not severe, powdery mildew (PM) can be found with ease in most trials on susceptible varieties if the growth is thick. Weather this week was favorable for wheat growth and disease development with highs between 75-85, lows in the mid 60s, and with high humidity and dew formation most mornings. This should lead to a dramatic increase in PM levels and also provides favorable conditions for leaf rust; it actually may be a little warm for stripe rust (one day this past week reached 88).  

Bob Hunger has more from Oklahoma regarding wheat diseases- plus reports from neighboring states as well- Click here to read more details in this week's WheatWatch.  

AND- speaking of our 2012 WheatWatch- we stopped and took photos at several wheat fields in southwest Oklahoma on Friday- this ahead of the rains now falling as we write this.  Click here and go take a look at a couple of pictures for each of fields around Lake Altus, Rocky and Hobart.  You can then click on to our Flickr page and check out more photos from these locations.  The field near the lake was already 18 inches tall and looking good- while we found a field outside of Hobart that had a lot of tansy mustard growing along side the wheat.    

Ethanol Industry, EPA Ready for E15 Rollout

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated that the model Misfueling Mitigation Plan for E15 as submitted by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) meets the requirements of EPA's E15 waiver decision. In January 2011, EPA expanded upon its October 2010 decision and approved the use of E15 for light duty passenger vehicles Model Year (MY) 2001 and newer.

In a letter to RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen, EPA stated that the RFA Misfueling Mitigation Plan "would generally be sufficient to satisfy the partial waivers' requirements for a misfueling mitigation plan."

"Americans will soon have a safe and effective new fuel option at the pump that is domestically-made and significantly cheaper than gasoline," said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. "E15 ethanol blends have withstood rigorous testing and mountains of challenges. With today's announcement, EPA is clearing the way for E15 and allowing America's ethanol industry to turn its full attention to educating retailers and consumers on the benefits of higher level ethanol blends and ensuring that state fuel regulations allow for their sale."

Click here to read more about the rollout of E15 fuel.

Rains Arrive in Western Oklahoma 

I am getting this morning's email out later than normal- it has taken a while to get the stuff pulled together from last night's Oklahoma Youth Expo- and as I write this around 7 AM- we have several Mesonet stations already over an inch of rain in Harmon County, Greer County, Ellis County and even Woodward County.  The rain making system has arrived in central Oklahoma as I write this- and while I won't provide a snapshot graphic on our web- I will point you to the Mesonet to see the rainfall totals pileup as the day progresses.  The rains falling in west central and northwest Oklahoma are badly needed- and will provide tremendous relief as things are dried out a great deal in recent days.  

Click here for the last 24 hours of rainfall across Oklahoma from our world famous Mesonet.