Vilsack Says 2015 Budget 'Achieves Reform and Results' for Taxpayers 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack yesterday made the following statement on the proposed FY 2015 budget:

The President's 2015 USDA budget proposal achieves reform and results for the American taxpayer; fosters opportunity for the men and women living, working and raising families in rural America; and supports innovation through strategic, future-focused investments. The budget focuses on creating jobs and building a foundation for future economic growth, particularly in rural America, where 85 percent of our nation's persistent poverty counties are located. It supports farmers, ranchers and growers as they achieve net farm income well above the average of the previous decade. Mid-sized farms and livestock producers continue to face challenges as a result of prolonged drought. We are hopeful that implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill, which restores disaster assistance and invests in programs to help beginning, small and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, will provide much-needed stability for producers moving forward.

To support hardworking Americans as they find and keep jobs and transition out of nutrition assistance programs, we have invested in programs that will build the skills they need to get back into the workforce.

The budget continues to fund programs that, since 2009, have helped more than 800,000 families buy, repair or refinance a home; extended new or improved broadband service for more than 7 million Americans and 364,000 rural businesses; improved or constructed more than 90,000 miles of electric line; invested in 6,700 water and wastewater projects for nearly 20 million Americans; and provided grants and loans to assist nearly 75,000 rural small and mid-sized businesses in rural America, creating or saving more than 377,000 jobs.To help America's producers break into new exports markets for farm and ranch products, and building off of President Obama's recently announced Made in Rural America export initiative, we will continue funding for trade promotion and market expansion. Last fiscal year, farm and ranch exports reached a record $141 billion and supported nearly one million American jobs.

Click here to read more of Tom Vilsack's comments on the budget.  

PEDv Hits Oklahoma Pork Producers Financially and Emotionally  

PEDv is perhaps the most-talked-about unpopular topic among Oklahoma pork producers today. That's according to Roy Lee Lindsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Pork Council. Lindsey spoke with us last week at the Pork Congress held in Midwest City. Although that topic was not on the meeting's formal agenda, it was being talked about almost everywhere.

Lindsey said he thinks some producers who normally attend the event stayed home this year in order to protect the biosecurity of their farms. "They just decided they're not going to come and mix and mingle with other producers. Until we can really get a feel for how to protect our herds, how to prevent the spread of PED, I think you're going to continue to see that."

While the disease may not yet have hit Oklahoma as hard as other states, Lindsey said it has still taken its toll on producers.

"The challenge is not just economic, it's emotional. The farmers who have been through this, when you lose two weeks or three weeks or four weeks of every pig born on the farm doesn't survive, that takes an emotional toll on you and so when you're thinking 'How do I prevent that?' it's not just the economic loss that goes with it, there's an emotional toll that goes with it, too."

You can read more of this story or listen to my full conversation with Roy Lee Lindsey by clicking here. 

Deadline Approaches to Purchase Noninsurable Crop Disaster Program Coverage

Oklahoma Farm Service Agency (FSA) executive director Francie Tolle reminds producers of the March 17, 2014 deadline to purchase Noninsurable Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage for spring and summer planted crops. This deadline applies to warm season grasses intended for grazing, as well as spring and summer planted crops such as: forage sorghum, peas, soybeans, sunflowers, watermelons and all other spring and summer planted specialty crops grown for food.

NAP covers losses caused by damaging weather conditions. Producers receive a payment when the loss is in excess of 50 percent. Losses are generally determined by the percentage of loss compared to the producer's Actual Production History (APH). Eligible production losses are paid at 55 percent of the established value for the crop. NAP participants must report loss on CCC-576 within 15 days of the damaging weather or when the loss become apparent.

"Purchasing a crop insurance policy is an easy way for producers to practice risk management," said Tolle. "Oklahoma producers have seen firsthand how natural disasters can directly affect the profitability and recovery of agricultural operations." 

Click here to read more.

 

Oklahoma Quality Beef Network: Summary of Fall 2013 Sales

The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN) is committed to increasing producer access to value-added marketing opportunities and improving the quality of Oklahoma cattle. One piece of that commitment involves conducting special sales for calves enrolled in OQBN's calf certification programs. OQBN calves are managed according to a specific health management preconditioning protocol designed to improve calf performance throughout the beef supply chain. The combined value of the management protocol and the third party certification by OQBN is expected to increase the value of calves at marketing, as compared to calves sold with no preconditioning.    

Producer participation and the number of calves marketed through the Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN) value-added health management program increased in 2013, relative to 2011 and 2012, as the region began modest drought recovery. OQBN value added calf sales were hosted by several livestock markets around the state in fall 2013. Market data were collected at eight sales, including Cherokee, Elk City, McAlester, OKC West (×2), Blackwell, Pawnee, and Tulsa between October 30, 2013 and December 14, 2013. Data were collected on approximately 4183 OQBN certified calves sold in 343 lots at these designated OQBN sales. Including the OQBN calves, data were collected on a total of 11,927 calves.

Premiums across that timeframe 2009-2013 ranged from $6.54/cwt to $9.23/cwt (see Raper and McKinney, 2009; McKinney et al., 2010; Raper et al., 2011). The overall average OQBN premium for 2013 was $8.65/cwt. Again, this premium and premiums for other years represented are based on the weighted-average price of all OQBN lots as compared to non-preconditioned cattle and do not consider price differences attributable to lot size, weight, breed, hide color, sex, fleshiness, and muscling. 

Check out more of this report and its accompanying graphs on our website by clicking here.  

 

Checkoff Dollars put Digital Media Front and Center in Consumers' Beef Decisions

It's no surprise to anyone with eyes or ears that the digital media have taken the world by storm. Michele Murray, the director of integrated communications with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association,  spoke with me and made a presentation at the recent Texoma Cattlemen's Conference. Murray says it is imperative beef producers embrace digital marketing to reach consumers.      

"This year's challenge is all about 'Thinking Big for Beef.' And, through that, really evolving how we communicate with the consumer. And going from used to be a print and radio emphasis advertising campaign to digital and thinking about new ways to reach the target consumer through social media and through search and through video to really help encourage them to choose beef on a regular basis."

Murray says to most effectively target consumers, they have been looking at their daily lives and when they begin thinking about what to have for dinner. She says the goal of marketers is to be right there when the idea about what to serve is coalescing in the consumer's mind.

"Fifty percent of Americans don't know what they're going to have for dinner at 4:30 tonight. And half of them will say they prefer chicken because it may be easy. What we want to do is to help solve that problem with beef solutions."

Michele Murray joins me on the latest Beef Buzz.  Click here to listen in or read more of this story.  

GMO Inside Pushes Starbucks to Drop Milk from Cows Fed GMOs

Green America's GMO Inside campaign today launched a major push to get Starbucks, America's largest coffee chain with more than 20,000 stores in 62 countries, to serve only organic milk sourced from cows not fed GMOs. In early January, GMO Inside made worldwide headlines when its social media campaign led General Mills to announce that it would drop genetically modified ingredients in basic Cheerios.

The new campaign's website and Facebook page call on Starbucks to stop sourcing milk from cows fed genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in feed, including corn, soy, alfalfa, and cottonseed, and to use a third-party verifier to ensure that the milk used at Starbucks stores is, in fact, sourced from cows eating non-GMO feed.

"Starbucks already serves soy milk that is organic and non-GMO. Consumers also deserve dairy milk held to the same standard and level of quality," stated Green America's GMO Inside Campaign Director Nicole McCann. "Consumers will put pressure on Starbucks to serve only organic, non-GMO milk. And the reality is that the process Starbucks put in place to remove rBGH from its milk source can be used to source organic milk."

Click here to read the rest of this story.

 

This N That: Express Bull Sale Set for Friday, Big Iron Closing Bids This Morning and Time to Get Your Baby Trees! 

This coming Friday, Express Ranches has their annual spring bull sale- and if you are looking for the leading genetics in the Angus breed- the place to be will be the Express Ranch in Yukon on Friday.  562 Bulls are scheduled to sell.  

Bob Funk and Jarold Callahan write in the catalog for the 2014 sale "With all of us experiencing the best cattle prices in history any of us have ever seen, we believe stronger than ever that
one of the most important decisions we all make is bull selection. Proper bull selection allows us to impact our herd and
maximize our profits as much as any decision we control. 

Click here for the Express Ranches website, where you can download the catalog as well as view video of the bulls to be offered.

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There are 654 items up for bid in today's BigIron.com auction. Sales begin closing at 10 a.m. Go to their website by clicking here and you'll find pictures and detailed descriptions of every item in this sale and their upcoming sales.

District Manager Mike Wolfe would be happy to help you if you have any questions about how to buy or sell the Big Iron way. Just give him a call at 580-320-2718 or catch him via email at mike.wolfe@bigiron.com.

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Oklahoma Forestry Services is wrapping up its annual conservation seedling sales by hosting truck sales in more than 20 communities across the state during March. By visiting the truck sales, Oklahomans will have the convenience of purchasing seedlings close to home, and the opportunity to talk with area foresters about tree planting and other land management issues.


"We offer conservation seedlings that have been grown in our state nursery south of Norman," said State Forester George Geissler. "These trees have been grown from local seed sources and are specifically designed to thrive in Oklahoma."

To learn more about the 2014 seedling sales, click here.