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Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf newsletter.

The effects of many years of cattle herd liquidation and the inevitable decreases in beef production have become glaringly obvious in 2014. Cattle slaughter is down 6.3 percent leading to a 5.7 percent decrease in beef production so far this year. Cattle and beef prices have reached record levels and the certainty of high prices for the foreseeable future makes the question of cow herd expansion one that is top of mind for the industry and increasingly for consumers as well. Herd expansion will make tight beef supplies even tighter for two or three years before beef production responds but the sooner expansion starts, the sooner beef production can grow to meet domestic and international demand for U.S. beef.

The January 1, 2014 inventory of beef replacement heifers indicated a 90,000 head year over year increase, up 1.7 percent from 2013. While this indicates producer intentions regarding heifer retention, there is no guarantee that intended replacements will actually enter the cow herd. In fact, in both 2012 and 2013, more replacement heifers were in inventory on January 1 but unfavorable conditions led to herd liquidation rather than expansion in those years. Moderate improvement in forage conditions in last half of 2013 led to strong indications of herd expansion intentions including the additional replacement heifers mentioned above and a 13.5 percent decrease in beef cow slaughter. Increased heifer retention has also been indicated by sharp year over year decrease in heifers on feed since last October. Despite apparent herd expansion intentions in late 2013, enough liquidation occurred early in the year to result in a 0.9 percent decrease in beef cow inventory for the year. 

Read more about the potential of herd expansion by clicking here.  

Latest Crop Weather Updates: Rain Blesses Southern Plains Region

Much needed rainfall was received in Oklahoma last week. For the first time in several months, the Southwest District lead the state with an average rainfall total of 3.04 inches, followed by the West Central and Northeast Districts, with average totals of 1.90 inches and 1.83 inches respectively.

Condition of the winter wheat in Oklahoma continued to decline, with 78 percent rated in poor to very poor condition. Over eighty percent of the canola continued to be rated in poor to very poor condition. Canola blooming reached 98 percent by week's end. Canola coloring increased 13 points to reach 76 percent complete.  Click here for the full Oklahoma Crop Weather report.

In Kansas, temperatures averaged 4 to 8 degrees warmer than normal across most of Kansas, with beneficial rains late in the week in many areas. Rainfall amounts of an inch or more were common in the east and north with lesser amounts elsewhere. Freeze damage across the eastern third of Kansas is still being assessed. Winter wheat headed was 89 percent, ahead of 69 last year and the five-year average of 87.  You can read the full Kansas report by clicking here.

Many areas across Texas experienced significant rainfall along with warm temperatures. Areas of the Northern High and Low Plains, Edwards Plateau and South Texas received from two to five inches of precipitation, with many other areas receiving at least one inch. Parts of East Texas received only trace amounts of precipitation.  Winter wheat conditions improved in areas of the Northern High Plains that received recent rainfall. Small grain harvest was underway in the Blacklands and South Central Texas with 12 percent of the crop harvested.  Click to read the full Texas report.

Nationally, corn planting is coming to a close in several of the major corn producing states as the corn planting pace is right on track with the five year average.

National Corn Grower President Martin Barbre points out that "Modern farm technology allowed farmers across the country to spring into action and plant at a pace unimaginable just a few decades ago. America's corn farmers can plant faster, taking better advantage of shorter windows of time, and this definitely benefits America's economy and consumers in the end."

Click here for more from the NCGA on corn planting progress and a link to the complete Crop Progress report for this week- out a day later than normal because of the Memorial Day holiday.

As the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database project moves forward, Off the Cob, a production of the National Corn Growers Association, caught up with MGGDB Curator Dr. Jack Gardiner for an update on the progress made over the past few months. In the interview, Gardiner explained the newest project that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service-supported database in Ames, Iowa, has undertaken to develop translational data.

Gardiner begins with an explanation of what translational data actually is.

"We always have lots of projects to choose from at MaizeGGDB. So, we try to focus on projects which will be of most use to our user community, which is primarily composed of maize breeders and geneticists," said Gardiner. "Since we are primarily supported by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service and the National Corn Growers, we try and further narrow our focus on data sets that we hope will translational. By translational, I mean data sets that will hopefully translate into real world solutions such as developing hybrids that utilize water, sunlight and nutrients more efficiently." 

To learn more about this story or to listen to the interview click here. 

Beef Producers Demand a High Quality TPP Deal

Beef producers from four Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries have again demanded that any TPP agreement be a high quality deal that eliminates all tariffs on beef.

Members of the Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA)* from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, urge all participants involved in the TPP negotiations to re-commit to securing a comprehensive, non-discriminatory outcome - one which eliminates tariffs and importantly addresses behind the border trade barriers.

FNBA is concerned that TPP members have not been able to craft a tariff-eliminating deal for beef, and unless all parties step up to the plate and reaffirm their commitment to a trade liberalizing outcome, countries could begin to drift away from the goal of achieving a 21st century agreement.

Click to learn more about the TPP.  

OACD, Access Midstream Partners Collaborate on Prairie Chicken Protection

As part of their ongoing efforts to protect soil, water, air and wildlife habitats, the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) today announced their partnership with Access Midstream to help protect the habitat of the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC) through landowner incentives tied to habitat improvement. 

"We are excited to have Access Midstream as our partner in helping landowners address the challenges created by the loss of Lesser Prairie Chicken habitat," said Kim Farber, President of OACD. "Even though this species has been listed as threatened instead of endangered, we still need to do what we can to take it completely off the list. By providing incentives to help farmers and ranchers improve the habitat of this species hopefully we can help in this effort."

Under the proposed collaboration, Access Midstream will donate funds to OACD who will work with landowners to preserve Lesser Prairie Chicken habitat in western Oklahoma. The goal of the partnership is to mitigate habitat loss and aid in the recovery of the species.

Click to read more about this colloboration
 

Jeff Edwards Answers Questions About Clearfield Wheat Technology

Jeff Edwards, Small Grains Extension Specialist at Oklahoma State University, writes in his latest World of Wheat blog:

The introduction of two-gene Clearfield technology and the release of an Oklahoma-developed two-gene Clearfield wheat variety have resulted in increased interest in the Clearfield system in the southern Great Plains. This has also resulted in several questions, some of which I will attempt to answer in this blog post. If you have specific questions regarding rates, timings, etc., I encourage you to contact your local BASF representative.

Are Clearfield wheat varieties GMO's? No. The Clearfield system is a non-genetically modified crop herbicide tolerance technology.

What is two-gene technology and what does it mean? As the name implies, two gene Clearfield varieties have two copies of the gene that confers resistance to imidazolinone herbicides. Two gene varieties have "Plus" or "+" in the name (e.g. Doublestop CL Plus). In wheat two-gene technology provides the option of adding 1% v/v methylated seed oil (MSO) to the spray solution. In my experience, addition of 1% v/v MSO greatly increases Beyond efficacy on feral rye. Methylated seed oil should NOT be added to the spray solution for one-gene Clearfield varieties, as crop injury will occur.

Click to learn more about Clearfield Wheat.  

This N That: Lesser Prairie Chicken Info Meetings Today, No Harvest Movement Due to Rain and Big Iron Wednesday Sale Closings

The office of the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association are hosting a pair of meetings about the recent listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.


The meetings will be held today, May 28, 2014 at the Beaver County Fairgrounds at 9:30 a.m. and at the Southern Plains Research Station in Woodward at 2:30 p.m.


Several government agencies have agreed to come and attempt to answer questions that cattle producers have about the Threatened Status of the bird as declared by the Obama Administration earlier this spring,

Click here for more details about the meetings planned for today.

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It was a short and sweet statement from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission in regards to harvest of the 2014 wheat crop in the state- nothing is happening because of the rains. 

OWC offered this statement to us in an email "Harvest is at a standstill in Oklahoma with no changes taking place from the previous report last week.   Rain showers fell in all regions of the state over the Memorial Day weekend, and producers in the southern regions are hopeful to get back into the fields by the end of the week in some places where the moisture amounts were minimal."

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It's already Wednesday in this holiday shortened week- and Big Iron offers their weekly lineup of sale items.  A total of 301 items are being offered this week- click here for more information as the first items start to close at 10 am central time this morning for their always no reserve auction process.