USDA Continues Farm Bill Implementation with Crop Insurance Changes  

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced continued progress in implementing provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill that provide new risk management options for farmers and ranchers. These improvements to crop insurance programs will provide better protection from weather disaster, market volatility and other risk factors to ensure farmers aren't wiped out by events beyond their control.


Vilsack also announced new support for beginning farmers that will make crop insurance more affordable and provide greater support when new farmers experience substantial losses. These announcements build on other recent USDA efforts to support beginning farmers.


"Crop insurance is critical to the ongoing success of today's farmers and ranchers and our agriculture economy. These improvements provide additional flexibility to ensure families do not lose everything due to events beyond their control," said Vilsack. "We're also acting to provide more support to beginning farmers and ranchers so that they can manage their risk effectively. We need to not only encourage new farmers to get into agriculture, we must ensure they're not wiped out in their riskiest initial seasons so they can remain in agriculture for years to come."


The U. S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) filed an interim rule with the Federal Register, allowing USDA to move forward with changes to crop insurance provisions. The provisions provide better options for beginning farmers, allow producers to have enterprise units for irrigated and non-irrigated crops, give farmers and ranchers the ability to purchase different levels of coverage for a variety of irrigation practices, provide guidance on conservation compliance, implement protections for native sod and provide adjustments to historical yields following significant disasters. 
 

Click Here to read more about the changes being proposed to crop insurance.  

July 4th Picnic Still Costs Less Than $6 per Person 

 An all-American Fourth of July picnic of the nation's favorite foods including hot dogs, cheeseburgers, pork spare ribs, potato salad, baked beans, lemonade and chocolate milk will cost slightly more this year but still comes in at less than $6 per person, says the American Farm Bureau Federation.


Farm Bureau's informal survey reveals the average cost for a summer picnic for 10 is $58.72, or $5.87 per person. That's about a 5-percent increase compared to a year ago.


"Despite some modest price increases over the past year or so - meats, especially - most Americans should be able to find summer picnic foods at prices close to the averages found by our volunteer shoppers," said John Anderson, deputy chief economist at AFBF.


"Retail meat prices are higher compared to a year ago because the nation's cattle herd is now at a historically small level," Anderson said. "The total number of hogs farmers across the nation are raising is also down, which has contributed to higher retail prices for pork products."    

Click Here for the details on the latest market basket survey from American Farm Bureau.    

Renewable Fuels Organizations Respond to Supreme Court's Denial to Review Ninth Circuit's LCFS

In response to the recent announcement that the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the challenge to the Ninth Circuit's decision on the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard, the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy issued the following statement:


"We are extremely disappointed that the Supreme Court has declined to review the Ninth Circuit's decision, despite the broad support for the petition - including 21 states. We will continue our efforts to protect the American biofuel industry and the national interest and will continue to ensure that all consumers have access to low-priced, American-made biofuels."

Harrison Family Enjoys Raising Good Cattle and Helping Youth

Harrison Cattle Company has been raising cattle for three generations in Arapaho, Oklahoma and Mobeetie, Texas. The ranch is owned by Leslie and Jan Harrison who raise registered Hereford Cattle.  The ranch consists of 100 registered females on approximately 3 - thousand acres. During the recent Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association tour, participants got to see some of their best bulls, cows and calves up close.


In an interview with Leslie Smith with the Radio Oklahoma Network, Leslie Harrison shared 'We jumped at the chance because number one we would like to get our name with the cattle we have, get folks to see them."   

The Harrisons take pride in raising good high quality cattle and helping the next generation of producers. The Harrisons are helping five youth with their cattle projects by furnishing heifers, helping the youth get to shows from the local to the national level. Harrison says it's important to help kids who can't afford to show cattle otherwise and he encourages other cattle producers to do the same.


"We need some younger kids in agriculture," Harrison said. "If you look at the stats the average farm is 50 - 60 years old, so we've got to help this younger generation get into it."    

Click Here to read more (and to hear Leslie's interview) about the Harrisons and see pictures from the OCA Tour.       

Noble Foundation Advances Student Education Through Agricultural Scholars Programs

Each summer, the Noble Foundation provides more than a dozen college students with a life-changing experience, not an internship.


The Noble Summer Research Scholars in Plant Science and the Lloyd Noble Scholars in Agriculture programs provide elite college students from across the United States with an opportunity to work side-by-side with Noble Foundation staff in Ardmore, Oklahoma.


Noble Summer Research Scholars conduct plant science research with mentor scientists in the laboratories and greenhouse facilities of the Noble Foundation. The Lloyd Noble Scholars program offers students the opportunity to work alongside agricultural professionals in six core areas of expertise (animal science and livestock management, agricultural economics, horticulture, range management, soils and crops, and wildlife and fisheries).
 

To see the full list of Noble Foundation Scholars Click Here.  

Selk Concerned on the Impact of Hot Weather on Bull Fertility

Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University Emeritus Extension Animal Scientist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter.


Recently a producer asked about the impact that the heat of the summer of 2012 may have had on the reduced calf crop that was discovered the following spring. In particular, they wanted to know if high summer temperatures could lead to reduced fertility in bulls. Several research trials have been conducted throughout the years looking at the effect of high temperatures on bull fertility. As far back as 1963, researchers exposed bulls to temperatures of 104 degrees F. and 54% humidity for an 8 period and then allowed the temperature to drop to 82 degrees F with 72% humidity for the remainder of the 24 hour period. This temperature regimen was continued for 7 days and was designed to resemble natural conditions in the subtropics. They found the high temperatures resulted in major detrimental effects on initial sperm motility, sperm concentration and total numbers of sperm per ejaculate.


In 1978, Oklahoma scientists (Meyerhoeffer, et al.) placed bulls in controlled environments of 95 degrees F. for 8 hours and 87 degrees for the remaining 16 hours while similar bulls were placed in environments of 73 degrees constantly. These treatments were applied to the bulls for 8 weeks and then all bulls were allowed to be in the 73 degree environment for another 8 weeks. During the treatment, the heat stressed bulls had average rectal temperatures of 0.9 degrees F higher than non-stressed bulls. The percentage of motile sperm cells decreased significantly in the stressed bulls by 2 weeks of heat stress. Sperm motility did NOT return to normal values until 8 weeks after the end of the heat stress. This explains some of the reduction in fertility that is often associated with summer and early fall breedings. One cannot escape the conclusion that high ambient temperatures can result in detrimental effects on fertility by effects on both the cow and the bull.   Also remember that heat stress can also have a negative impact on female reproductive performance. As you multiply the two reductions in reproductive soundness (male X female), it is apparent that heat stress can cause smaller and/or later calf crops.

 

This N That- Big Iron, June Weather Summary and Welcome Thomas Coon

It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items- all 231 of them.   

Click here for the complete rundown of what is being sold on this no reserve online sale this week.

If you'd like more information on buying and selling with Big Iron, call District Manager Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718 and he can give you the full scoop.  You can also reach Mike via email by clicking here. 

**********

There were no April showers in much of Oklahoma this year- they must have been flying in on Delta as they were delayed until the end of May and continued in June.

Our friend Gary McManus wrote up a summary of weather conditions for the month of June- and he led off talking about the rain totals:

"According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the month finished as the 23rd wettest June on record for the state with an average total of 5.82 inches, a surplus of 1.56 inches. Those records date back to 1895. North central Oklahoma, one of the areas hit hardest by drought since the beginning of the year, saw its fifth wettest June with an average of 8.18 inches, 4.24 inches above normal.  

"On the local level, six Mesonet stations recorded at least 9 inches of rain for the month, all located across northern Oklahoma. Buffalo led the state with 10.44 inches of rain, 6.36 inches above normal. Cherokee and Lake Carl Blackwell reported 10 inches with Alva, Breckenridge and Freedom exceeding 9 inches. Kenton recorded the state's lowest total at 0.83 inches. The Mesonet recorded at least an inch of rain somewhere in the state on 19 days during June.  

"Not all areas were as fortunate with the plentiful moisture, unfortunately. Locations along the Red River fell 2-4 inches below normal for the month. Durant reported 2.44 inches, more than 3 inches below normal."

Click here for Gary's full report.

**********

The new Dean for the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University now has one full day under his belt- and Dr. Thomas Coon is already up and running on Twitter. (Maybe he can help our friend Jack Staats get up to speed on that Social Media platform- :) )

His first tweet proclaimed to the world "Good morning Oklahoma! I am honored to serve Oklahoma State University and the people of this great state through the Division of Ag at OSU."   

Dr. Coons spent a lot of years on the campus of Michigan State University- so he's having to make the transition of Green over to Orange- as he does that- you may want to follow him on Twitter and offer your greetings and welcome as well.  His Twitter handle is @okstate_agVP

Here is a video greeting that Dr. Coon has recorded to say hello to all of us:

OkState Ag VP Welcome