Watch for Armyworms- the Advice of Tom Royer 

Are Armyworms headed for Oklahoma from wheat fields down in Texas? Dr. Tom A. Royer, Professor and IPM Coordinator for OSU, says it is a possibility. He tells us in a Tuesday morning email that "I received a report from a colleague in Dallas about a flush of armyworms in their wheat, and I noticed several moth flights as I was leaving the canola tours last week. I will be checking wheat fields this week to see if any we are growing a "crop of worms" in our wheat." 

Dr. Alan Knutson, Extension Entomologist in Dallas reports that wheat producers south of Dallas are battling armyworm infestations. I have noticed armyworm moth flights the past few evenings on my way home from our canola variety tours. These flights could deliver a crop of armyworm caterpillars within the next few weeks, so producers and crop consultants need to check wheat fields for signs of infestation and the worms themselves. Armyworm infestations tend to be focused around waterways, areas of lush growth, or areas with lodged plants. These are the areas to watch closely and determine if the whole field is infested, or the infestation is restricted to a localized area.


Yield loss from armyworm feeding can occur in two ways. First, they cause physiological yield loss when they feed on the flag leaf. They can also cause direct yield loss by "clipping heads" as plants become mature and lose green tissue. Fortunately, head clipping is rare in winter wheat. The head clipping I have noticed over the years occurred on secondary tillers bearing small, green heads that won't contribute much to yield.

You can read more about armyworm infestations by clicking here.  We've also included a link with pictures of what to be looking for.

U.S. Wheat  and Cattle Groups Welcome U.S-Colombia FTA Implementation May 15th 

The U.S. wheat industry welcomes the announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos that the countries will implement the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA) on May 15. The U.S.-Colombia FTA is vital to the wheat industry's efforts to rebuild market share in one of the largest markets for U.S. wheat in South America.

According to a joint statement from US Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers, implementation of the FTA will eliminate all tariffs on U.S. wheat imports into Colombia. The agreement creates a level playing field for U.S. wheat farmers, as export competitors Canada and Argentina already enjoy duty-free access to the market.

Click here for more from the Wheat Industry statement on the U.S.-Colombian FTA. 

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association is also very pleased that the implementation date for the Columbia FTA has finally been set.  The tariff on US beef is a whopping 80%, which has placed a very high fence around Columbia when it comes to US beef exports- that goes to zero on some of our high quality cuts immediately and will phase out on some of the cheaper parts of the carcass.  NCBA's Kent Bacus talked about what is, for all practical purposes, a brand new market for US beef exports in today's Beef Buzz. Click here to jump to that story and a chance to hear his comments on today's show that is airing on great radio stations across the region.    

Glenn Selk Talks About Protecting the Cattle Herd Following Spring Time Storms  

As OSU's Glenn Selk explains in this week's Cow Calf Newsletter, cleaning up after a storm is crucial to protect livestock from injury and illness. He offers several suggestions adapted from D.W. Smith, an Extension Safety Program Specialist at Texas A&M.

Spring time is thunderstorm season across the Plains. As we observed this past weekend, spring storms occasionally bring severe winds or even tornadoes. Cleaning up after a severe storm is difficult enough. Losing valuable cattle brings additional financial hardship to the situation.   Relying on an article published by D.W. Smith,

Cattle loss can occur in several scenarios. Livestock may be killed, lost, or stolen during a stormy situation. An accurate accounting of livestock and property is essential to a cattle operation's storm preparedness. Keep a CURRENT inventory of all animals and the pastures where they are located. Individual animal ID tags on all animals have several other purposes, but can become extremely valuable if cattle become scattered or even stolen. If these records are computer based, consider having a "back-up" copy stored at a neighbor's or a relative's house.

Glenn has a whole list of suggestions and a link to another article by one of his colleagues.  Click here to go there.  

NCBA, Industry Groups Urge FDA to Make Science-Based Decisions on Antibiotic Use

A trio of FDA documents published in last week's Federal Register which could potentially limit the use of antibiotics by animal producers has industry advocates concerned. Guidance 209 was finalized and recommends phasing out the use of medically-important drugs in agricultural production and increasing veterinary oversight in the therapeutic use of these drugs. Guidance 213 is a draft which encourages drug companies to remove production uses from the antibiotic and antimicrobial product labels. Another draft, Veterinary Feed Directive, outlines ways that veterinarians can authorize the use of certain animal drugs in feed.

In this week's Beef Buzz, we talked with Kristina Butts, executive director of legislative affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.  She said the documents "really set forward the Food and Drug Administration's philosophy on how the industry should use antibiotics judiciously-especially those that are critically important in human medicine."

She said cattle producers agree antibiotics need to be used judiciously, but that decisions regarding their labeling, availability and use should be soundly based in science. Some producers are fearful regulatory decisions will be made that harm the industry's goals of producing healthy, nutritious beef at a cost that is affordable to consumers. 

You can catch audio of Kristina's comments in the Beef Buzz by clicking here. 

Crop Weather Update: Severe Storms Damage Small Amount of Wheat and Canola

Deadly storms sweeping across northwestern and north central Oklahoma over the weekend left some crop damage in their wake. Large hail, high winds and heavy rains took a toll on some fields of wheat and canola. Crop conditions showed a slight decrease due to the damage.

In the small grains, wheat jointing reached 95 percent by Sunday, five points ahead of the five-year average. Seventy-two percent of wheat was heading by the end of the week, 31 points ahead of last week and 55 points ahead of the five-year average. Nine percent of canola was mature by Sunday.

Overall, 77 percent of the wheat crop was rated good to excellent, 19 percent was fair, and only four percent was in poor or very poor condition.

The canola crop showed 73 percent in good or excellent condition with 22 percent in fair shape, and only five percent in poor or very poor condition.

The Kansas wheat crop continues two to three weeks ahead of average with 69 percent listed in good to excellent condition, 24 percent in fair condition, and only 7 percent in poor or very poor shape.

Texas wheat is fairing a little more poorly with 38 percent in good to excellent condition, 30 percent in fair shape and 32 percent reported in poor or very poor condition.

You can read the USDA Crop Progress report for Oklahoma by clicking here.

Canola TV: OSU Researchers Expect Canola Test Plots To Yield Bountiful Data

With the weeks before the canola harvest dwindling down, researchers from Oklahoma State University are keeping a close eye on their test plots. Near ideal weather this year compared with last year's disastrously dry conditions have provided a wide range of observations.

Dr. Chad Godsey of OSU says there are seven canola performance test plots located mainly in western Oklahoma. He says plots near Enid, Lahoma, El Reno, and Fort Cobb are expected to yield a good deal of data on insect and disease resistance as well as yield potential.

"Really, no matter where you are in the state, tremendous, tremendous yield potential. So this next four to six weeks if we can get Mother Nature to cooperate and get the harvest in the bin, get the crop in the bin, it will be a great crop this season."

Even though canola is just gaining a toehold in Oklahoma, Godsey says there have been a lot of improvements already made with canola varieties.

"Over the last five years it's been tremendous, the genetic improvement we've seen in stuff that's commercially available. It used to be five years ago we'd be worried about winter hardiness and really in Oklahoma for the most part, as long as we plant in a timely fashion, winter hardiness really is not an issue any more. We've seen our yield potentials increase, easily, 20 or 30 percent in the last five years." 

You can read more or see the latest edition of PCOM's Canola TV by clicking here. 

Links and More- Cattle on Feed, Futures Markets Push Back on Obama Energy Market Shakedown and Monsanto Forks Over the Cash to FFA

Our next Cattle on Feed report from USDA is coming this Friday afternoon at 2 PM central time- Rich Nelson with Allendale has offered us his thoughts on what this report may say- including what he expects to be a real slowdown in placements versus last spring. Nelson writes "March Placements are expected to be 4.9% lower than last year. The cash cattle decline in March, of $5 from start to end, may have limited feedlot inflows. USDA estimated feeder cattle supplies, outside of feedlots on January 1, at 4% lower than last year. Cattle placed in March will be marketed from late July to early November.

"Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 5.4% lower than March of 2011.

"Total Cattle on Feed as of April 1 will be 2.4% higher than last year. This is lower than last month's estimate of 2.6% larger supplies."

President Barack Obama came out swinging against speculation in the energy markets on Tuesday (I guess he doesn't like natural gas going below $2) and wants more government oversight over the energy marketplace to keep speculators from running the price of oil higher.  The holding company that operates the futures market exchanges in Chicago, the CME Group, is pushing back- saying the President is barking up the wrong tree- saying  "we caution against mistakenly categorizing speculation as a form of manipulation. Market makers and speculators serve an important function in the market - allowing energy users and producers to manage oil price risk and providing the necessary liquidity to ensure effective price discovery and more efficient transfer of price risk."  Click here to read the full statement on their take of the President's attack on the crude oil marketplace.

Finally, a nice shot of cash being given by Monsanto- they believe in the FFA and are proving it with a contribution of $850,000! Monsanto, as a major corporate sponsor of the FFA, has pledged to support national student leadership conferences, educational awards, awareness campaigns and more.  It's a very impressive laundry list of programs that Monsanto will help fund in the coming year- click here to read more about their investment into this organization that develops young men and ladies that proudly wear the Blue and Gold jacket.