November 17 Start of Coverage Selection for Your Farm Bill Safety Net- Will It Be  ARC or PLC? 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds farm owners and producers that the opportunity to choose between the new 2014 Farm Bill established programs, Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), begins Nov. 17, 2014, and continues through March 31, 2015. The new programs, designed to help producers better manage risk, usher in one of the most significant reforms to U.S. farm programs in decades.


"USDA is committed to keeping farm owners and producers well informed on all steps in this process to ensure that they have all of the information that they need before making their coverage choice," said Farm Service Agency Administrator Val Dolcini. "The new ARC and PLC programs provide a more rational approach to helping farmers manage risk by ensuring families don't lose the farm because of events beyond their control."


USDA helped create online tools to assist in the decision process, allowing farm owners and producers to enter information about their operation and see projections that show what ARC and/or PLC will mean for them under possible future scenarios. Farm owners and producers can access the online resources, available at www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc, from the convenience of their home computer or mobile device at any time.


"In addition to the new online tools, USDA has done extensive outreach, including partnering with State Cooperative Extension Services to hold meetings and meet with farm owners and producers," said Dolcini. "USDA leaders will continue visiting with farm owners and producers to share information and answer questions the new programs. We want to help producers boil the information down, understand their options and make the best decision on which program - ARC or PLC - is right for them."


Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice (which includes short grain rice), safflower seed, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat. Upland cotton is no longer a covered commodity. 

Click here to read the full signup timeline that farm owners and producers need to know

OCA President Questions USDA Secretary's Motive of Second Beef Checkoff 

US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack published to the Federal Register Monday a request for information about what the cattle industry, the individual producers and beef industry groups, want to see in a new separate beef check off. It doesn't ask producers if they want a second beef checkoff, but he wants to know what they would like to see in a new checkoff molded under the 1996 generic commodity act, which gives the US Department of Agriculture a lot more authority than the 1985 Act that the current beef checkoff is set up under.


Richard Gebhart is Past Chairman of the Federation of the State Beef Council and is the current Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association President. From what he sees its all a power grab on behalf of the Ag Secretary and some of the groups he favors in the beef industry.


"It just makes no sense to me when he has a program in effect that was proved to return $11 to $1, has a producer approval rating of 70 percent plus for a long time," Gebhart said. "I would think the administration would like that kind of approval, but I don't understand why we would put in parallel system. It makes me sad that politicians take the checkoff, a producer program and play politics with it." 


I talked with Gebhart this past Friday at the quarterly board meeting of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association in El Reno. Click here to listen to this Beef Buzz feature on adding a new Beef Checkoff to the mix.  

Oklahoman Scores Big Win at AQHA World Show

An Oklahoman has set a new record for the highest score at the American Quarter Horse Association's 2014 World Show going on in Oklahoma City at State Fair Park. Dee Dee Boeckman of Kingfisher scored 222 points in the Amateur Reining Finals held on Sunday night. Boeckman won the world championship title along with the coveted gold world trophy, belt buckle and over $15 thousand dollars.


Radio Oklahoma Network's Leslie Smith interviewed Boeckman after her win. She shared that getting to the AQHA World Show has been a long journey.


"Reining is not as easy, as it looks," Boeckman said. "You can be on up on cloud nine one day and down in the bottom the next. It's a very humbling sport but if you are competitive it always keeps you coming back." 


A horseman is only as good as their horse and Boeckman's 2010 sorrel Quarter Horse mare Ms. Dreamy had a great preliminary and finals. The team won both rounds of competition.  Click here to read or to hear more about their victory.  

Selk on Using Wheat Pasture as Winter Supplement for Cows

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


Limited grazing of wheat pasture has proven to be the best and also more efficient approach for utilizing this high-quality forage with mature beef cows. The protein requirements of a dry cow can be met by allowing her to graze on wheat pasture for one day and returning her to dry pasture grass and/or hay for 2 - 3 days. A pattern of one day on wheat and 1 day off, should meet the protein needs of the same cow after calving.


The day on wheat pasture should be defined as that amount of time required for the cow to graze her fill of wheat forage (3 - 5 hours) and not a full 24 hours. This short time on wheat allows the cow to gather adequate amounts of protein to carry her over the ensuing days on dry grass or hay. A 3 - 5 hour grazing limit helps to avoid the unnecessary loss of valuable forage due to trampling, bedding down and manure deposits. Depending on planting date, under normal weather conditions in the fall, enough wheat forage should be accumulated by late November or early December to supply the protein needs of about 1 to 1.5 cows per acre throughout the winter months when limit grazing is practiced.


Producers who decide to use continuous grazing of small-grain pastures, should watch out for the possibility of "grass tetany." Grass tetany will normally strike when older cows are grazing small grain pastures in the early spring and the danger will tend to subside as hot weather arrives. A mineral deficient condition primarily due to calcium, and to a lesser degree to magnesium, is thought to be the major factor that triggers this disorder and normally affects older cows that are nursing calves under two to three months of age. Dry cows are seldom affected.   Click here to read more about treatment options if tetany is suspected.  

USFRA Names 2015 Executive Committee, Stallman Steps Down

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA®), an organization dedicated to leading the national consumer dialogue about how America's food is grown and raised, announced Monday its new 2015 Executive Committee members. Nancy Kavazanjian, farmer director of the United Soybean Board, was named as Board chairperson. During her tenure Kavazanjian will work closely with the CEO of USFRA and members of the Board in providing thought leadership and serve as a national consumer spokesperson on behalf of farmers and ranchers across the nation.


"I am truly honored to have been selected to play such an important role in the consumer dialogue about how our food is produced and reaches our tables," said Kavazanjian. "As a farmer, I am passionate about sustainably growing safe and nutritious food for America and have seen first-hand the need for an organization like USFRA to help set the record straight for consumers about how our food is actually produced. I look forward to serving as USFRA's Board Chairperson."


Other 2015 Executive Committee members include:

-- Vice Chair - Brad Greenway, National Pork Board

-- Secretary - Mike Geske, National Corn Growers Association

-- Treasurer - Dawn Caldwell, Federation of State Beef Councils

-- At-Large - Lisa Lunz, Nebraska Soybean Board

-- At-Large - Todd Frazier, DuPont Pioneer


American Farm Bureau's Bob Stallman is stepping down from the Chairmanship of the USFRA. Stallman has served as Chair of the Alliance since the organization's inception in 2010. 

Beef Literacy To Be Found Down on My American Farm

The beef checkoff will soon be launching a multi-pronged approach to beef literacy. Building on the popular educational platform MyAmericanFarm.Org, the checkoff will launch a new Beef Heritage game, celebrating how producers care for animals, care for the land and provide quality beef products using a variety of production methods.  To amplify the program, other platform details include a volunteer kit which will contain resources to conduct beef literacy classroom visits and activities. 


In addition, a second My American Farm game, emphasizing nutrition and health benefits of beef products is also on its way with a mobile application featuring both new beef games.  To round out the efforts, the Beef Checkoff is funding a new Beef Ag Mag elementary school reader, targeting parents, teachers and families of young learners. 


The program is managed by the American Farm Bureau Foundation, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff.  The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture's My American Farm project teaches agricultural literacy to consumers and the public through an interactive computer game. Players learn where food comes from and how those products get from the farm to their dinner plate. My American Farm is an online educational game that lets students learn about agriculture while having fun.



Click here to see the interactive website.  

This N That - 4-State Crop Insurance Workshop, Big Iron Wednesday and Wintertime Precip in Mid November

A workshop will be held this Friday in Oklahoma to help farmers, ranchers and agribusiness professionals in making risk management decisions.   The four state crop insurance workshop will be held November 14th in Enid at the Autry Technology Center. This workshop is a joint effort of Colorado State University Extension, Kansas State University Research and Extension, University of Nebraska Extension and Oklahoma State University Extension. 

The workshop will address the 2014 Farm Bill, new price patterns and water issues affecting Great Plains irrigators. Crop insurance agents, agricultural lenders, marketing consultants, agricultural educators, and other risk management service providers will receive information to help their clients make more profitable risk management decisions. Farmers and ranchers will be able to apply the information to their decisions. Continuing education credits are also available.  

The workshop costs $120. The workshop begins with registration at 8 a.m. and ends by 4 p.m. For more information, including lodging, registration, and continuing education information by clicking here.   

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It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items- all 339 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 or tapping here.  

Wintertime has arrived a month early- and it appears that much of Oklahoma may be facing a wintry mix of snow, sleet and/or ice. Our morning News9 weather colleague Jed Castles has tweeted out several maps about what may be going on with the moisture on Saturday and Sunday- and while we are NOT talking about a foot of snow- we are looking at the stuff that can stick to roads and cause problems- and coat leaves that are still hanging on trees and cause problems there as well.

Here's his probability map for Saturday- with a suggestion that you keep tabs on the changing weather- as we appear to be stuck with this polar mess- temperature wise- for the next week or so.