Warm weather continues to impact Oklahoma with spotty rains reported.  The northeastern part of the state is showing heat stress in the alfalfa and soybean fields.  The state's corn crop rated 76 percent good to fair with 96 percent in dough stage and 81 percent dented.  Sorghum rated 77 percent good to fair.  Sorghum headed reached 86 percent complete, 64 percent was coloring and 17 percent was mature.  Soybeans rated 86 percent good to fair with 95 percent blooming and 79 percent setting pods.  Peanut rated 94 percent good to fair with 18 percent mature.  Cotton condition was rated 90 percent good to fair. Ninety-one percent of cotton was setting bolls and 25 percent of bolls were opening.  Seedbed preparation was underway for all small grains, ahead of last year. Forty percent of wheat seedbed preparation was complete as of Sunday, well ahead of normal and this time last year.  Canola seedbed preparation was 40 percent complete by week's end.  Conditions of pasture and range continued to be rated mostly good to fair. Grass conditions were deteriorating in the Northeast District and ponds were beginning to suffer.  Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Precipitation fell across the majority of the state of Texas this past week.  Areas of South East Texas, the Upper Coast, the Coastal Bend and the Lower Valley received significant rainfall totaling up to six inches with other areas receiving scattered rainfall.  Corn harvest was tracking the five year average with 55 percent of the crop harvested. In the Northern High Plains, silage corn continued to be harvested, while in the Upper Coast harvest was wrapping up. Sorghum harvest was progressing in areas of the Blacklands with 64 percent of the crop harvested.  Soybeans continued to be harvested in areas of the Blacklands with 21 percent of the crop harvested.  Cotton continued to progress with 93 percent setting bolls and 33 percent of bolls were opening.  Harvest was most active in South Texas with harvest nine percent complete.  Ground preparations continued for fall wheat and oats seeding. In the Northern Low Plains, producers anticipated grazing of wheat to begin in the coming weeks.  Pasture conditions improved with recent rainfall.  In areas of South Texas, livestock were being supplemented with hay and protein to make up for lack of nutrition found in rangelands.  Click here for the full Texas report. 

Temperatures were six to eight degrees warmer than normal across eastern Kansas this past week.  The north central and central counties received the most amount of precipitation.  Row crops and pastures that have been missed by the recent rains were stressed. Many farmers kept busy preparing for fall seeding and putting up feed.  The state's corn crop rated 71 percent good to fair condition.  Corn dented was 66 percent with 25 percent of the crop mature.  Corn harvest has reached seven percent complete. Sorghum rated 78 percent good to fair. Sorghum headed was 89 percent, coloring was 35 percent and mature was five percent. Soybeans rated 79 percent good to fair.  Soybeans setting pods was 87 percent and six percent dropping leaves. Cotton rated 87 percent good to excellent.  Cotton setting bolls was at 77 percent and 13 percent of bolls were opening.  Alfalfa hay third cutting was 89 percent complete and fourth cutting was 27 percent complete.  Click here for the full Kansas report.

National Crop Progress Reports Shows Row Crops Continue to Improve

The US Department of Agriculture report the nation's corn crop continues to show improvement.  In the weekly crop progress report released Tuesday afternoon, USDA increased the crop condition by one percent in the excellent category with 22 percent in excellent, 52 percent good, 19 percent fair, five in poor and two percent in very poor condition.  That means 74 percent of the nation's crop is in good to excellent condition.  The crop progress report also tracks the stages of corn crop growth, with 90 percent in the dough stage and 53 percent dented, compared to a five-year average of 89 and 59 percent, respectively.

The nation's soybean crop gained two points in the good condition and dropping one percentage point in the very poor category.  USDA was rating 18 percent of the crop in excellent condition, 54 percent in good, 22 percent in fair, five percent in poor and one percent in very poor condition.  Soybean maturing was running on track with the five-year average with 95 percent setting pods.  USDA reported five percent was dropping leaves, behind the average of seven. 

The nation's pasture and range conditions were holding steady with eight percent in excellent condition, 40 percent in good, 32 in fair, 14 in poor and six in very poor condition.

Click here for the latest USDA report on crop progress.  

Mitloehner Looks Back at Going After UN Over GHG Emissions

Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California Davis is one of the leading researchers in the US as well as globally when it comes to the carbon footprint for cattle, both beef and dairy.  I caught up with Dr. Mitloehner recently at his UC Davis office. 


Dr. Mitloehner became internationally acclaimed when he disagreed with the United Nation's over a greenhouse emissions of cattle. He disagreed with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation's report titled "Livestock's Long Shadow". In 2009, Dr. Mitloehner wrote a rebuttal paper in discussing their assumptions and calculations. The initial report from the FAO showed livestock had a much larger impact on the environment than what is being reported today. Dr. Mitloehner said in that report the FAO estimated the global impact of livestock was 18 percent. Since the initial report, Dr. Mitloehner said their numbers are been revised downward. The FAO has since corrected that number to 14 percent. That is a global average. (US numbers for livestock GHG are MUCH lower)


"The FAO made some real strides in finding out how do we come up with a good method to establish the impact livestock have on the environment," Mitloehner said. "They established a large project that's called 'LEAP' - Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance Partnership."


LEAP involves many national governments involved, the entire global livestock and poultry industry and also many national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Mitloehner continues to serve as chairman of the LEAP partnership. He said this is a global project that has one objective to measure the right ways of measuring the impact of livestock. 

Click Here to listen to today's Beef Buzz with Dr. Mitloehner about the true environmental impact of cattle and how the US compares to the rest of the world.  

And if you would like to check out our full conversation with Dr. Mitloehner- that's available now as well as one of our RON Ag Perspectives Podcast.

Livestock Producers Urged to Enroll in Disaster Assistance Program by Oct. 1

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is encouraging producers who have suffered eligible disaster-related losses to act to secure assistance by Sept. 30, 2014, as congressionally mandated payment reductions will take place for producers who have not acted before that date. Livestock producers that have experienced grazing losses since October 2011 and may be eligible for benefits but have not yet contacted their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office should do so as soon as possible.


The Budget Control Act passed by Congress in 2011 requires USDA to implement reductions of 7.3 percent to the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) in the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2014. However, producers seeking LFP support who have scheduled appointments with their local FSA office before Oct. 1, even if the appointment occurs after Oct.1, will not see reductions in the amount of disaster relief they receive.


USDA is encouraging producers to register, request an appointment or begin a Livestock Forage Disaster Program application with their county FSA office before Oct. 1, 2014, to lock in the current zero percent sequestration rate. As an additional aid to qualified producers applying for LFP, the Farm Service's Agency has developed an online registration that enables farmers and ranchers to put their names on an electronic list before the deadline to avoid reductions in their disaster assistance. This is an alternative to visiting or contacting the county office.  

Click Here to read more about the USDA Disaster programs and how program benefits will be reduced under sequestration.
 

Ag Leader Chris Novak to Become NCGA's Chief Executive Officer

After a comprehensive recruitment process with many strong candidates, the National Corn Growers Association announced today that Chris Novak will become the organization's next chief executive officer, taking the place of 14-year veteran Rick Tolman, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire from the organization.


"We're thrilled to have Chris join us at NCGA," said NCGA President Martin Barbre, a corn grower from Illinois. "He has all the right qualifications to take the reins of this growing organization and keep it moving in the right direction, continuing the tradition of success we saw under Rick Tolman."


Novak's first day as NCGA CEO will be Monday, Oct. 13. He currently serves as chief executive officer of the National Pork Board, a position he has held since October 2008. Prior to that, from 2004 to 2008, he was executive director of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, the Indiana Corn Growers Association and the Indiana Soybean Alliance. Novak also has served in positions at Syngenta and the American Soybean Association, and worked on Capitol Hill.  Click here to read more about Novak's background and Tolman's retirement plans. 
 

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


The bulk of summer is past and forage conditions are improved for cattle production in many parts of the country. The latest pasture and range conditions indicate that overall range and pasture conditions in the U.S. are 20 percent poor and very poor compared to 31 percent last year and an average of 33.6 percent for this date from 2008 to 2012. Despite the difficulty of relieving drought in the summer, pasture and range conditions improved somewhat through the heat of summer; aided in part by a cooler than average summer. In the latest Drought Monitor, the percent of the U.S. that has no drought is 52 percent, the same as it was the week of May 20, 2014. However, the percent of the U.S. with D2-D4 (severe to exceptional) drought conditions was 21.6 percent compared to 28.3 in May. Marginal drought conditions remain in many regions but generally less severe compared to May. The exception to this general assessment is the far west including California, Nevada and parts of Oregon and Idaho where drought conditions continue very extreme. In fact, significant reduction in D3 and D4 drought conditions in much of the central and southern Plains was offset by increases in those categories in California and Nevada, thereby masking the improvement in the middle of the country in the Drought Monitor percentages.


Range and pasture conditions are improved with lower percentages of poor and very poor conditions in most all regions compared to this time last year. Despite the deteriorating conditions in the far west, the percent of pasture and range in poor and very poor condition in the 8 western states is 35.9 percent currently compared to 56.5 percent last year. The Great Plains region (including Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming) has 15.1 percent poor and very poor compared to 28.6 percent one year ago. The Southern Plains (Oklahoma and Texas) currently have 25.5 percent of pastures and ranges in poor or very poor condition compared to 33.5 percent last year. The eight states in the Corn Belt region have 13.4 percent poor and very poor condition, down from 26.3 percent from one year ago. Only the southeast region has worse conditions compared to last year with 13.1 percent of pastures rated poor or very poor compared to 3.3 percent last year.


The August USDA Crop Production report included estimates for 2014 hay production. Alfalfa hay production is forecast to be up 10.5 percent from one year ago, with increases in both harvested acreage and estimated yield contributing to the increase. Other hay is forecast to be down 1.5 percent, with a 2.6 percent decrease in harvested acres and yield virtually unchanged from last year. Other hay production was likely decreased by early dry conditions in some regions that delayed hay harvest.  Click here to read the rest of the article from Dr. Peel.  

Equipment to Sell, Cattle Meetings to Attend and a Tip of the Hat to Dr. Carl Anderson

It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items- all 496 of them- starting at 10 AM central time.     

 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.

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Two events coming on Thursday of this week may be of interest to cattle producers and those involved in the beef cattle industry.  In Woodward, it will be a celebration of 100 years of research on rangeland as the Southern Plains Range Research Station will be hosting a special Field Day at the station.  Click or tap here for more details about this celebration.

Also on Thursday- if you are in southern Oklahoma- you may want to check out a combo ranch tour and a ranch gathering being put on by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers.  The Ranch Tour is at the Oswalt Ranch in Marietta, Ok at 1:30 pm and the Ranch Gathering will be happening later that afternoon at the Noble Foundation in Ardmore.  Click or tap here for more details this TSCRA Ranch Gathering event.

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Funeral services are planned for later today in Bryan, Texas for Dr. Carl Anderson, former TAMU Cotton Marketing Specialist.  He retired from the University in 2004- but had kept active in talking about the cotton markets since then.  

Dr. Anderson was a nationally respected cotton marketing analyst and tremendous friend to the cotton industry. He was a presenter at numerous cotton marketing seminars over the years, and participated in the Cotton Marketing Roundtable, among other events.

Services will be at 11:30 a.m. TODAY, September 3, at First United Methodist Church, 506 E. 28th St., Bryan, TX.

Click or tap here for more details about the memorial in place to honor Dr. Anderson for his decades of service to the US Cotton industry.