Redlands Community College Offers Students Hands On Experience in Meat Goat AI and Embryo Transfer Program   

Redlands Community College is putting hands-on learning back into the college classroom. The Radio Oklahoma Network's Leslie Smith traveled on Tuesday with participants on the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Summer Ranch Tour to see first-hand the unique educational experience in El Reno.   


The two year school has gained attention for the college's goat breeding program lead by Sam Nusz, who does close to 800 embryo transfers a year for outside producers as well as embryo transfer work for the college. The former agricultural education teacher offers students a chance to learn with their minds and their hands.


"What makes it so unique is the hands on approach, everything is hands-on," Nusz said. "The student gets to do basically everything from packaging, to the processing, they get to see the embryo transfer and its the biggest key deal that we can bring the kids in."

The program attracts students from Oklahoma as well as about 15 to 20 states annually who come from across the country to learn about meat goat reproduction. Redlands isn't the only college in the nation with this kind of breeding program, but with a state-of-the art laboratory and the learning opportunities students get, he believes its one of the best programs around.  

Click Here to read more about this unique learning environment or to listen to the interview with Sam Nusz.  

Strong US Beef Prices, Attractive to Mexican Beef Producers  

Nobody in the United States knows more about the Mexican beef and cattle marketplace than Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel. For many years he has done work in Mexico and he recently returned from Mexico. He continues to see the US - Mexico trade relationship in beef and cattle market continuing to evolve with a more integrated market.  

For the last 20 plus years Mexico has been a major export destination for US beef. After declining for the past five years since 2008, Peel says last year we have saw the first annual increase in beef exports and that is continuing this year.


"The latest development in the last three or four years is that Mexico has dramatically increased their infrastructure for feedlot and for box beef production in particular and that gives them more value opportunities not only in their domestic market but also in the export market," Peel said. "So the US and other countries have started receiving significant quantities of Mexican beef."


Mexico is an a similar situation as the US with declining cowherd numbers. Mexico is extremely tight on cattle numbers as they have culled down their numbers and he thinks that is why they are importing more US beef.  

To listen to today's Beef Buzz with Dr. Peel or to read more on the outlook of Mexican beef exports Click Here.   

Kim Anderson Analyzes Grain Stocks on SUNUP this weekend

Just head of the quarterly grain stocks report from the US Department of Agriculture, Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Kim Anderson makes his forecasts on this week's preview of Saturday's SUNUP program.


Overall US corn and wheat stocks are relatively tight. Anderson says you can go back to 2012-2013 marketing year corn ended with 718 million bushels, the 2013-2014 year ended with 583 million bushels and next year it projected to be 574 million bushels.


With hard red winter wheat 2012-2013 marketing year ended with 343 million, down 200 million bushels this year and Anderson says next year its forecasted the US will end with 175-180 million bushels in ending stocks. 

Anderson explains why tight stocks likely won't translate to higher prices in 2014 by Clicking Here.  

Plains Grains Calls Oklahoma Wheat Harvest 85% Complete

Oklahoma has reached the final stages of the 2014 Hard Red Winter Wheat Harvest- according to Mark Hodges with Plains Grains. In the weekly Hard Red Winter Wheat Harvest Report, Hodges estimates that 85% of the Oklahoma wheat crop has now been harvested. The Texas wheat harvest is now 66% complete- but Kansas is struggling to get combines into the fields in many locations and is just 30% complete as of the middle of this week.


The report says "The HRW wheat harvest has moved into southeastern Colorado on a limited scale with test cutting in southeastern Nebraska expected within the next couple of days. Cutting progress in Kansas continues to be significantly slowed because of continued rain showers. Some wheat in extreme northwest Kansas and northeastern Colorado is still not completely ripe and is about a week behind in development. Harvest continues in northwest Texas (Panhandle), in far northwestern Oklahoma (Panhandle) and in the eastern areas of north central Oklahoma as weather has permitted. 

Click here for more from the Thursday night release of the Plains Grains Harvest Update.

Wilkins Testifies on Importance of Biotech Trade Policy for Soybean Farmers

Greenwood, Del., farmer and American Soybean Association (ASA) Treasurer Richard Wilkins appeared on Capitol Hill today before the Senate Committee on Finance to testify about the importance of biotechnology to soybean farmers as the U.S. pursues trade agreements abroad.


The hearing, "Trade Enforcement: Using Trade Rules to Level the Playing Field for U.S. Companies and Workers," addresses the impact and implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade agreements, U.S. trade with China, and other aspects of America's trade relationships abroad. Soybeans are the nation's leading agricultural export, and ASA has long taken a leading role in representing the needs of farmers in discussions of international trade.


In his testimony, Wilkins addressed the need for a more consistent regulatory framework in our various partner nations, citing specifically the inconsistent and unreliable frameworks in China and the European Union.


"Other countries have adopted systems for approving biotech traits, but these decisions are subject to differing regulations or are overtly political, which can result in lengthy delays between approvals in importing and exporting countries," he testified. "This is a concern because, until an importer approves a new trait, even a trace amount of that trait detected in a cargo can result in its rejection and major losses for the shipper."
 

Click Here to read more of Wilkins testimony. 

Wheat Market is Telling Farmers to See Just Harvested Wheat Now- Kim Anderson Explains All 

According to OSU Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson, the current market seems to be telling wheat producers to sell their physical wheat and consider buying an option to participate in a rally that might be ahead. The following market analyst was written by Dr. Anderson and is being released on his website on this Friday morning, June 27, 2014:



"During the last 8 trading days, the KC September wheat contract price has traded in a 40 cent range ($7.41 to $7.01). Within this range, the high Sept contract close was $7.27 and the lowest close was $7.04 for a 23 cent range for the closes. The KC Sept wheat contract price is in a sideways pattern between about $7.41 and $7. Closes above $7.41 would indicate a price target of $7.86 with weak resistance at about $7.62. The $7.41 price range has relatively strong resistance.


"At this writing, the KC July wheat contract is trading near the same price as the KC Dec wheat contract. The Dec contract price is 4 cents higher than the Sept contract price. The market is not willing to pay for storage and interest. This is a signal to sell what now. With a zero basis spread between July and Dec, selling wheat and buying "near-the-money" Dec Call options should be considered as compared to storing wheat for Oct/Nov sales. "

Click here to jump to the full analysis offered by Dr. Anderson and how he would complete this strategy.

Superior Sells Today- and Gets Ready for Their Week in the Rockies Sale Coming July 7th

It's a fairly light on line video auction planned for today at Superior Video Livestock Market, with 15,500 to be offered by the online market starting at 8:00 AM central time today.

Click here for details of today's auction, with a link there on to the Click to Bid webpage for today's auction.

Meanwhile, it will be a huge sale coming up the week of July 7th for Superior, as their Week in the Rockies XXVI kicks off that Monday morning with a total of over 200,000 head of cattle to be offered over the course of the week.

The sale will originate at Steamboat Springs, Colorado- and there should be details of the full offering coming on line at the Superior Website later today or over the weekend.  Click here for the page that has been set aside for the Week in the Rockies event- there is still time to make plans to drive to the sale- or you can watch from home or from where ever you are on DISH Network Channel 242- the RURAL TV Network or online at Superior Click to Bid.Com.