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National Livestock Credit Corporation and affiliated companies are planning to offer for the fifth year a special calf auction to support the  All American Beef Battalion. The auction of a donated calf will take place during the regular Monday auction of the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City on December 15th at approximately 10 AM.


In 2013, the auction and re-auction multiple times of a single calf resulted in over $43,000 being raised for the Battalion. National's involvement over the past four years has helped raise over $160,000 from the annual auction of a calf each December.


The 2015 calf to be auctioned is being donated by 3C Cattle Feeders and the Clyde Runyan family of Mill Creek, OKlahoma. National Livestock Credit Corporation will invoice buyers and collect checks.  

Our friend Robert York has been the driving force behind this fund raising effort and is once again involved in pulling together this highly successful fund raiser that will end up providing an American ribeye steak dinner to the troops that return home from deployment as a small thank you for their service to our country.

Anyone may support this effort by calling 800-310-0220 and speaking with Debbie Wedel. If you are unable to attend but would like to support the cause, you can call Debbie for your proxy bid (or pledge after the fact!) or you may also visit the All American Beef Battalion website by clicking here and make your donation by PayPal.  I suspect that someone will be in the office by a little after seven am central time to take your pledge.

Milder weather conditions and a stronger economy are welcomed by Oklahoma's insurance industry. The past few years the state has battled widespread drought, wildfires and destructive tornadoes. Oklahoma State Insurance Commissioner John Doak said this past year was the best weather-related year for Oklahoma in the past 15 years. He said that will have a long term impact because there were a lot of claims in the last five years, which was the most catastrophic weather period in the state's history. That's good news for insurance companies like American Farmers and Ranchers and Oklahoma Farm Bureau as well farmers and ranchers who are buying policies. 


Doak also shared how the outlook for insurance companies has improved. One the top priorities of the agency is to ensure insurance companies have the financial solvency to pay claims. Doak said the financial outlook of companies has improved and few companies have left the state. Oklahoma is also attracting new companies with new insurance legislation for workers' compensation.


The Oklahoma Department of Insurance is one of several state agencies participating in the Tulsa Farm Show. Doak said the agency aims to connect with consumers to help them understand their insurance policy. Doak said they educate Oklahomans on having the right farm and ranch policy, ensuring the public understands their insurance coverage for automobile or home coverage in case there is an disaster in the state. Doak also finished a tour all 77 counties across the state on Thursday.
 

I caught up with Doak at the Tulsa Farm Show.  Click here to listen to the full interview.  

House Speaker Announces Committee Leadership for 55th Legislature

House Speaker Jeff Hickman of Fairview announced Friday the chairs and vice chairs for the standing House committees and appropriation subcommittees of the 55th Oklahoma Legislature.


"I am truly grateful for our members who are willing to serve in leadership roles for our committees," said Hickman. "We are blessed with very talented members in the House, and I am confident those I have asked to serve as chairs and vice chairs will use their varied experiences in the private sector to help move Oklahoma forward."  

State Representative John Enns of Enid will be the Chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, while Scott Biggs of Chickasha will be Vice Chair.

The subcommittee that will hold the purse strings for agricultural related spending- the Appropriations and Budget Natural Resources & Regulatory Services Subcommittee will be chaired by Leslie Osborn of Mustang while freshman lawmaker John Pfeiffer of Mulhall will be the Vice Chair.

Click here for the full list of House committee leadership chairs.  

USDA Seeks Public Comment on New EQIP Rule

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is publishing a rule that outlines how it will improve the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), one of USDA's largest conservation programs. The interim final rule includes program changes authorized by Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill.  USDA has established a 60-day comment period for the rule. The rule is expected to be available in the Federal Register and regulations.gov on Friday, Dec. 12. Beginning Friday, public comments can be submitted through regulations.gov or by mailing them. Comments are due by February 10, 2015. Full details are in the Federal Register notice, by clicking here.


"This interim final rule provides a roadmap to help streamline and simplify EQIP for farmers and ranchers," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "We strongly encourage agricultural producers, private forest landowners and stakeholders to provide comments on our implementation processes. This feedback will help us improve our operation and deliver technical and financial assistance more efficiently to our nation's agricultural producers and forest landowners."


The changes are intended to simplify the EQIP regulation regarding conservation practice scheduling, payment limitations and other administrative actions. Vilsack said USDA has enhanced EQIP by streamlining the delivery of technical and financial assistance to agricultural producers and forest landowners nationwide.  Click here for more about the program changes in this rule. 

Make Time to Body Condition Score Cows

Are you cows ready for colder weather? Making sure your cowherd has adequate body condition is one of the best ways for your cow's to be ready for weather changes. Kansas State University Extension Beef Specialist Dr. Sandy Johnson said trying to add body condition to a cow in this day and age can be increasingly difficult and expensive. That's why she said it's important producers know their cow's body condition score. She said recording condition changes in a cow can save a producer big time in the long term.


"It's often when you are closest to things that you don't see some of the changes that are occurring and the changes typically will be rather slow and if we make a concerted effort to just take a few moments score those cows when we are checking them," Johnson said.


A body condition score describes the relative fatness or body condition of a cow. Cows are given a body condition score from one to nine. A score of one means a cow is very thin and a score of nine indicates that cow is extremely fat and obese. Johnson hopes producers don't have many cows that are given a score of 1, 2, 8, or 9. The ideal score is a five, which indicates the cow is in average flesh.  I featured Johnson on the Beef Buzz feature.  Click here to listen how frequently cow's body condition should be evaluated.

The Senate has passed a combination continuing resolution and omnibus spending bill that will fund the federal government for the 2015 fiscal year, after the House passed the same legislation earlier this week. Informally dubbed the "CRomnibus," the bill designates funding for 11 individual spending bills, including the agriculture appropriations legislation.  

At least a couple of ag related groups cranked out reaction Saturday night after the passage of the funding of the government- the American Soybean Association and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. 

The Soybean folks called the measure a "mixed bag" for agriculture. They liked the increase in funding that the bill provides for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, which was given a three percent boost in funding. Additionally, ASA is very supportive of language in the bill that would withdraw the Environmental Protection Agency's interpretive rule on the Waters of the United States.

In the area of conservation, ASA is disappointed in the bill's further cuts to conservation programs on working lands like the voluntary Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), as these programs have been proven effective in improving soil and water health.

Click or tap here to read the full reaction offered by the ASA over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association offered a combined reaction with the Public Lands Council, calling the CRomnibus a "clear message of support" for the cattle industry.

In particular, they are loving on the language regarding the Interpretive Rule that was put into place earlier this year as a basis for WOTUS proposed rule from EPA.  "The bill made a major step in addressing over-burdensome regulation from the EPA by withdrawing the Interpretative Rule as part of the Waters of the United States proposed regulation. The rule, which attempts to clarify farming and ranching provisions under the Clean Water, adds uncertainty rather than explanation for landowners and threatens fines of up to $37,500 per day. While not a complete fix, this is a critical step in addressing the strong concerns farmers and ranchers have with this regulation. "

Click here to read their full reaction.

STILL TO COME- the Senate will meet for at least a couple of days this week- and it appears that Senator Harry Reid will allow a vote on the Tax Extenders package as one of the last actions of this lame duck Congress. Included in that package is the likely extension for all of 2014 the so called Section 179 provision- which dramatically ups the deduction a businessman is allowed to take on big ticket items before December 31st.  Republicans are pushing to get the last votes done and adjourn, wanting to minimize the number of judicial appointments that the Democrats may be able to get done before they lose the majority.

Pawnee FFA Chapter Wins Tulsa Farm Show Livestock Handling Skills Contest

The team representing the Pawnee FFA Chapter easily won the 2014 Tulsa Farm Show Livestock Handling Skills Contest at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds on Friday. The team received the top placing from all three judges and outscored the second place team by 26 points. Team members included (in the order seen on the front row of the picture here) Bethany Piotrowski, Erin Caldwell and John Barger.

After the awards were presented on Friday afternoon, Bethany talked with me about their Championship, saying they had prepared for the contest by having local ranchers allow them to work their cattle through a chute- practicing their skills in putting implants into a calf, checking the temperature of the calf, putting in an ear tag and more.  The link below includes our audio conversation with this Pawnee FFA award winner.

Click here to see how the other eight teams in the contest placed- plus have a chance to jump over to the FLICKR page to see pictures of the teams receiving their awards from Terry Detrick and a couple of his board members of American Farmers and Ranchers on Friday afternoon. Also congratulating the winners on Friday were Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak and Amanda Riddle, also with the Oklahoma Insurance Department.