Livestock Producers Join Regional Food Bank in Beef for Backpacks Program 

Oklahoma livestock producers are joining the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and other groups focused on feeding hungry Oklahoma children with a new project, Beef for Backpacks. The project will use donated cattle to produce beef sticks for the Food Bank's Food for Kids Backpack Program.

The project was launched during a news conference with Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb at the state capitol yesterday.

The Beef for Backpacks program is a collaboration among the Oklahoma Farming and Ranching Foundation, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma State University Food and Agricultural Products Center and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

"We currently provide thousands of chronically hungry children with a backpack of kid-friendly, nutritious food every weekend and school holiday throughout the year," said Rodney Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank. "These beef sticks add to the nutritional content, and we are confident the kids will love them."

We spoke at length with Bivens and Tom Buchanan with the Oklahoma Farming and Ranching Foundation about the program. You can hear our conversation by clicking here.  

Lawmakers Seek Court Order to Block State's Funding of Youth Expo 

State Representatives Mike Ritze and Mike Reynolds have filed a motion for a temporary injunction as part of their lawsuit in the Oklahoma County District Court to block the state Department of Agriculture from transferring $2 million in public funds to the Oklahoma Youth Expo Show, a private livestock show held in Oklahoma City each year.

The injunction seeks to preserve the public funds until the court eventually rules on whether the intended expenditure is unconstitutional.

Rep. Ritze said the funding was not included in the fiscal year 2013 state budget agreement and contends that even if it were a line item in the budget the transfer of public monies to a private institution is unconstitutional.

"The state simply has no authority to transfer public funds to private organizations or individuals," said Ritze, R-Broken Arrow. "Since 2002, we have discovered the Department of Agriculture has transferred nearly two-and-a-half million dollars in taxpayer money to the Youth Expo. They know it is illegal, but they do it anyway. We mean to put a stop to it and protect the taxpayers from these types of backroom deals." 

Click here to read more.

OACD Applauds $2 Million EPA Award to Oklahoma Water Quality Projects

The recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide over $2 million in additional funds for water quality work in Oklahoma is a welcome one according to Joe Parker, President of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD). Parker said this recent decision by EPA shows recognition of the water quality work going on in Oklahoma. 

"We are very happy with this recent development in our ongoing dialogue with EPA," Parker said. "This new injection of funding for water quality efforts in Oklahoma recognizes the outstanding work that is taking place on the ground in our state to address non-point source pollution through voluntary conservation practices. This new money recognizes the hard work that is being done in Oklahoma to protect our water. It's nice to have a chance to find agreement on this issue that is so important to us all."

The action singled out by Parker for praise was the redirecting of over $2 million in EPA clean water act section 319 funds to Oklahoma from the surrounding states in EPA region 6 for voluntary, cooperative conservation work.  

You can read more about the projects on which the funds will be spent by clicking here.

Apache Farmers Co-op Readies New Risk Management Services for Roll Out

Apache Farmers Co-op finance manager Davey Jones has been studying the agricultural finance landscape for a long time. What he's learned over the years has allowed his co-op to create a bundle of risk-management tools and services they are preparing to offer their members. If they benefit the membership of the co-op, Jones says they may be coming to a co-op near you.


We recently spoke with Jones about the evolution of their risk management process and what it offers producers. He says the project has developed organically as the needs of producers have developed.

"It's been a process as agriculture has changed and as, specifically, the input costs in agriculture have changed. It's become a much riskier way of life. As we've watched that unfold, we've noticed that there are certain things that, looking backwards, if our producers had taken certain steps, then they really could have negated a lot of the negative consequences of these risks when they do play out to their disadvantage. 

"So, we began to look at some things, as a co-op, that we might do, services we might provide that would help them plan ahead and manage those risks a little better.

Click here to read more or to listen to our interview with Davey Jones.

Maximizing Forage Usage Crucial to Maintaining Herd Size, Lalman Says

With drought conditions persisting across most of the state, OSU Extension Beef Specialist Dr. Dave Lalman says a lot of cow-calf producers are currently taking stock of their operations. 

He says producers may have a little culling left to do as they preg check cows for the spring calving season and as they take stock of available forage. With cow numbers as low as they are, he says we may see some decreases, but he is not expecting a large drop.

"My sense is, of course if we think about the big picture, in 2010 we had just over two million cows. The 2011 drought causes us to go down to 1.7 million cows, approximately. And so we're still very low in cow numbers which turned out to be a good thing this year because of the severe drought conditions. So I don't think there's a lot of major adjustments that need to take place.

"Fortunately, in the central and western part of the state, apparently there was a lot of cool season forage hay harvested this year mostly because there was no carryover. People recognized there was no carryover and we needed hay, so they baled a lot of that. So that's going to be a resource that helps us out a lot. I suspect that the appearance of wheat pasture will determine how deep some people have to cull." 

Dr. Lalman joins us for the current Beef Buzz.  You can catch our full conversation by clicking here.

Angus Foundation Funds Genomic Sequencing of Angus Sires Through University of Missouri

At its September 2012 meeting, the Angus Foundation Board of Directors approved funding for a research project at the University of Missouri, Columbia, for genomic sequencing of Angus bulls. This sequencing is meant to enhance the understanding and genetic prediction of Angus cattle performance. 

The $50,500 research study was recommended for funding to the Board by the American Angus Association Research Priorities Committee and will be awarded to the University of Missouri's Wurdack Chair of Animal Genomics and Curators' Professor of Genetics and Animal Sciences, Dr. Jerry Taylor.

Taylor says the Angus Foundation dollars will be used in tandem with funding provided by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA), to deep sequence the genomes of high-impact Angus bulls to identify variation in growth, carcass quality, feed intake, disease resistance and early embryonic loss.  

Click here for more on this Angus genomic research grant.

This N That- Rainfall Predicted in Latest Graphic, Russian Ban and Twitter Spurned

The three day rainfall forecast model looks really good for west central Oklahoma up into northwest and north central counties- and eastward into the northern part of Green Country.  We have the graphic up on our website this morning- click here to check it out.  We also have had scattered showers that have given some rainfall to locations largely south of I-40 overnight, with the largest amounts captured by the Oklahoma Mesonet found in Hinton with 1.19 inches of rain and Hobart with .98 inches of rainfall. 

Rainfall chances remain in the forecast in most locations across the state right into Saturday- put the Rally Hat on and bring it on in!

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The British newspaper DailyMail has an online article about a Russian ban of genetically modified corn from the US. "

Russia has suspended the import and use of an American GM corn following a study suggesting a link to breast cancer and organ damage.

"Separately, the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA), has ordered its own review in to the research, which was conducted at a French university."  This is a Monsanto variety that has been targeted by this French research- click here to read the full article.

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Twitter is not for everybody- and that includes the leadership of the House Ag Committee.  The Hill reports that "Fifty-five members of Congress have not joined Twitter, the social media platform that has become a force in politics."  One of the members they profile is retiring Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren. "I'm not big on jumping on something that doesn't allow you to have time to think it through," he told The Hill. "Too many people I've seen have sent tweets out that get them into trouble." However, he acknowledged that he probably would have jumped on board if he had decided to run for another term in the House.  

Click here for the article that lists those lawmakers that are not a part of the Twitter scene- and those included  in that list are both the Chairman of the House Ag Committee Frank Lucas and the Ranking Minority member Collin Peterson. While Lucas is not on there- his House Ag Committee staff on the majority side do have a presence on the social media tool- so the Rogers Mills County rancher does have some exposure to the 140 character messages that go tweet tweet.