Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News

Howdy Neighbors! 

The Thanksgiving holiday impact on markets really kicks into gear today as livestock auctions like OKC West and the Southern Oklahoma Market in Ada are both closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday week- markets that normally operate on Thursdays and Fridays are also shuttered for this week (think Apache and Woodward).   

Most livestock markets resume their normal schedule next Monday- it's a good idea to give them a call and doublecheck their schedule so you don't load livestock and have no place to haul them to.  

As for the futures markets, they have a normal day of trade today- are closed for Turkey Day and reopen for a "half day" of trade on Friday.  Click here for the specifics courtesy of the CME Group.

Government offices are closed Thursday as are banks- and for other folks you do business with- if you were planning on having dealings with them on Friday- you might check today to see how hard they are working at the end of this week.

Our radio reports continue to be available on many of our great radio stations across the state- especially on Friday- however- we will take a publishing pause and return with our next email on Monday, December first.

Down at the bottom of today's email- we invite you to check out our Thanksgiving reflections for 2014.

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Oklahoma's hog industry is adapting to the changing business climate. Oklahoma hog producers have been raising hogs from birth to market, but that is changing with the price of inputs. When hog farms were built the cost of diesel was a minimal expense to the transport of hogs to market. Now with price of diesel up to $4 a gallon that has changed the economics of the situation. Oklahoma Pork Council Executive Director Roy Lee Lindsey said producers are having to decide - does it make sense to haul the corn to the hogs or the hogs to the corn.   


Pork production will continue to be a vibrant part of the Oklahoma Agricultural scene, as Lindsey the most valuable thing a hog farmer has is the state license to operate. Today Oklahoma is the nation's 5th largest sow producing state and Lindsey looks for that sector to grow as hog farmers will continue to raise piglets that will be shipped to the midwest. The Seaboard plant in Guymon will also continue to demand hogs for processing. He looks for the state to maintain an inventory for that processing plant. He said there is no chance for the state to move up in terms of total hog production and he contends the state will likely fall on the list for total hogs and pigs.


"But outside of that narrow window, everything that is outside the Panhandle of Oklahoma is going to be looking to move baby pigs from Oklahoma up into the midwest," Lindsey said. 


It's not just Oklahoma, Lindsey said this a trend going on across the United States. Market hog numbers are trending down in a lot of states, including North Carolina, which is and has been the second largest hog producing state over the last 30 years.  Click or tap here to listen to how producers handled PEDv and market volatility in 2014.

Ron Hays will be joined by Lindsey on the "In the Field" segment Saturday morning at 6:40 on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City  

Thanksgiving is the largest meal many cooks prepare each year. Getting it just right, especially the turkey, brings a fair amount of pressure whether or not a host is experienced with roasting one. The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing food safety recommendations on how to properly prepare a turkey to make sure yours is both delicious and safe to serve.
 

Consumers should follow certain steps to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Click here for tips USDA, including their Food Safety Hotline that will be open on Thanksgiving.

"Food safety isn't just for the food manufacturing plants, but it is important in the home as well," said Peter Muriana, food microbiologist for Oklahoma State University's Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center. "The most common safety issues at Thanksgiving are those concerns of Salmonella and Campylobacter associated with raw poultry, as well as from Staphylococcus aureus, a common inhabitant of human nasal passages, which is associated with contamination of cooked products through human contact."


Click here for handling, cooking and storage tips from OSU for a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  

The American Farm Bureau Federation's 29th annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year's feast for 10 is $49.41, a 37-cent increase from last year's average of $49.04.


The big ticket item - a 16-pound turkey - came in at $21.65 this year. That's roughly $1.35 per pound, a decrease of less than 1 cent per pound, or a total of 11 cents per whole turkey, compared to 2013.


"Turkey production has been somewhat lower this year and wholesale prices are a little higher, but consumers should find an adequate supply of birds at their local grocery store," AFBF Deputy Chief Economist John Anderson said. Some grocers may use turkeys as "loss leaders," a common strategy deployed to entice shoppers to come through the doors and buy other popular Thanksgiving foods.


The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10. There is also plenty for leftovers.
 

The average cost of the dinner has remained around $49 since 2011.  Click here to read which items increased and decreased in 2014.    

When you start looking at population numbers its easy to see the opportunities globally for US Beef. In the US there are 300 million people and globally there are seven billion people now on this earth. Now many of those seven billion are not affluent enough to be able to afford meat, red met or beef specifically but there are more and more of the world's population that is moving up in terms of income and affluence. According to US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Assistant Vice President International Marketing & Programs Greg Hanes said its that rising affluent tide of people that gives American cattlemen the opportunity to sell beef outside the borders.


"If you look at it you've got 96 percent of the population outside the US, you are going to have 80 percent of the global purchasing power out there," Hanes said. "The US population if you look over the next 15 - 20 years really isn't going to be growing that much, where as if you look at the global population its just booming."  


Globally the middle class population is taking off. Hanes said that means consumers have the incomes now to purchase more meat, where as in the past they may not have. As economies develop, consumers move up the protein scale.  Click here to listen to my Beef Buzz feature where Hanes talks about the increasingly competitive global competition in selling beef on the worldwide market.  

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

Every year at "preg" checking time, ranchers evaluate cows and make decisions as which to remove from the herd. One criteria that should be examined to cull cows is udder quality. Beef cattle producers are not as likely to think about udder health and shape as are dairy producers, but this attribute affects cow productivity and should be considered. It may be easier to be accurate in your culling decisions, if you exam the udder soundness of the cows shortly after calving when they are at the peak of lactation and the udder is as large as at any time. Take time now during the peak of lactation to write down which fall-calving cows have unsound udders.


The heritability estimates of udder characteristics are variable. A study done in Brahman cattle for the heritability of udder soundness indicated that progress could be made by selecting for udder soundness. They reported that 25% of the differences in udder soundness was due to genetics. Beef Improvement Federation Guidelines have suggested that the heritability of udder soundness in beef cattle is estimated at .16 to .22 which means that some progress can be made by selecting against unsound udders.


Recent new research at Kansas State University (Bradford, 2014 KSU Cattlemen's Day) with large numbers of Hereford data has given even greater hope that improvement in udder quality can be made. They found heritabilities of .32 for overall udder score, .31 for suspension, and .28 for teat size. Plus, genetic correlations between traits were strong (.83). This means that selection for one trait (teat size or suspension) will result in improvement in the other trait.  Click here to read more about evaluating cows based on udder characteristics.  

It has been a roller coaster year for US Agriculture and yet there are SO MANY things that we can be thankful for.  Here's a few that come to my mind as I reflect on this Thanksgiving eve:

Record Cattle Prices and Falling Feed grain costs have combined to make it a year to remember for most of the Beef Cattle end of agriculture.

Pasture conditions have improved compared to spring and drought has hung on in many parts of Oklahoma- many farmers and ranchers are in better shape moisture wise compared to last November.

Wheat farmers have put the horrible wheat harvest of 2014 behind them- and look to a better wheat crop in 2015- Lord willing on giving us rain/snow this winter.

Spring crops have performed well and harvests have been good.

It may be my imagination- but I just feel like I am seeing more good young farmers and ranchers step up and make a difference- which gives us hope for a bright future.

I know you have your own list- drop me an email if you have time and share what you are most thankful for professionally and personally in 2014.

For me personally- it's been a great year- another year of health for myself, my incredible wife Jan and our family- and a chance to work in a part of the agricultural world where I get to interact and meet so many inspiring people- Young Farmers like Marty and Crystal Williams, FFA Members like Zach Weichel, Lawmakers like James Lankford and Frank Lucas, Ag Organization leaders like Terry Detrick and Tom Buchanan and colleagues that I know and love from across the country that also help tell the farm and ranch story. 

There's one colleague that I never met when he was alive that has inspired me down thru the years through a tiny book that he wrote in the 1940s.  Samuel Guard had a variety of hats back in the day- he was a Director of Information for American Farm Bureau, helped start the flow of farm information on the radio in the 1920s when he helped start WLS in Chicago and then later bought and edited the Breeders Gazette.  He produced a book of prayers for all the seasons that he called  "The Farmer Gives Thanks" and here is one of his prayers for Thanksgiving- and one that I leave you with this Thanksgiving 2014:

"Lord of harvests, keeper of our feedlots and our fields, we thank thee for a turkey that is fat.

We thank Thee for bread with butter on it.

We wish we could echo in these poor words the glorious autumn song of praise that rises from our frosted, browning stalks of corn, bent with ears of gold.

Accept the fragrance of red clover in yon mow as burnt incense rising from the holy earthen altar of this here stock farm.

Help us to be humble, just and kind as Thy Servant said- specially kind to those creatures over whom thou gave us original dominion, which we have subdued and fattened and multiplied and milked according to thy direction.

Make us good shepherds to them as Thou are the Good Shepherd to us.

Bless all thine own children about this board, or absent from it.

And make our hearts big enough to receive thy bounty in constant Thanksgiving.

Amen."

A final word- I am thankful for each of you that take time to read our words here and on our website- listen to our words on the radio and perhaps watch our segments on TV- you are a blessing to me.  Thanks for allowing myself and our RON team  to share a small part of your day.

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