Dr. Darrel Good of the University of Illinois offers the following grain market analysis from the Illinois farm information page- FarmDoc.


March 2015 corn futures traded to a high of $4.115 on December 15, the highest level since July 10 and $0.80 above the low reached on October 1. The average spot cash price at South-Central Illinois elevators was reported at $3.785 on December 12, $1.01 above the low on October 1.


A number of factors have contributed to the strength in corn prices over the past six weeks. First, the USDA's October and November production forecasts were well below the expectation of nearly 15 billion bushels that was being widely discussed in early October. A second supportive factor comes from prospects for corn consumption that have improved modestly since September. The USDA now projects 2014-15 marketing year corn consumption at 13.67 billion bushels, 65 million bushels above the September projection. The recent pace of consumption in some categories, however, has been above the average rate projected for the year. That pace has contributed to the post-harvest strength in both futures prices and basis levels.


On the biofuels front, domestic ethanol production during the first quarter of the marketing year was about five percent larger than in the same quarter last year, compared to the 0.3 percent increase for the year implied by the USDA forecast of corn consumption for ethanol production. Ethanol production remained large during very early December, reported at a record 290.5 million gallons for the week ended December 5. While a continuation of sharply lower crude oil and gasoline prices might eventually slow the pace of U.S. ethanol exports (as argued here), domestic ethanol consumption will remain well supported and ethanol production is expected to remain large well into the second quarter of the corn marketing year.  Click here to read more from Dr. Good on the outlook for exports, corn consumption and factors that will impact the price of corn in the coming weeks.  

Texas medical doctor and cattle producer Dr. Richard Thorpe has released a statement on Tuesday's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, where the Committee made clear their intention to remove lean beef and reduce red meat consumption from healthful dietary patterns:


"Despite a large body of strong and consistent evidence supporting lean beef's role in healthy diets, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee appears to be out of touch with today's lean meat supply in the retail counter and the 30+ years of nutrition advice showcasing benefits of lean beef. I am deeply disappointed that the Committee missed this opportunity to positively influence the American diet by blatantly disregarding sound science and removing lean beef from a healthful dietary pattern.


"Today, for the second time, the Committee presented and agreed to evidence showing that there are healthy dietary patterns with red meat intake above current U.S. consumption levels. Against their own review of the science, the Committee is recommending healthy diets should be lower in red meat than they are today. The Committee has turned a blind eye to their own evidence library criteria, arbitrarily excluding peer-reviewed, sound science on the health benefits of lean beef. To recommend that Americans eat less of a heart healthy protein, the only area of the existing guidelines currently consumed within the recommended amounts, demonstrates that this Committee has its own agenda, and it is not guided by the evidence. This flawed process and Committee bias is preventing a fair and reasonable discussion of the true science. I encourage the Secretaries to take a step back and look closely at the inconsistency and absurdity of the Committee's recommendation." 

The statement was made available by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association from their Washington offices.

Tax Extenders Okayed by Senate- Short Term Window Opens for Equipment Purchases for Farmers and Ranchers Til 12/31

The U.S. Senate voted 76 to 16 on Tuesday evening to pass a tax extenders package that holds key provisions for small businesses such as section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation. The tax extenders package was previously approved in the U.S. House of Representatives and now heads to the White House for approval. 

Several Ag Groups quickly reacted to the Senate passage which will put these tax breaks into place through the end of 2014- two weeks away.

Bob McCan, President of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says this is great end of the year news for cattle producers.

Kent Bacus, director of legislative affairs for NCBA, said the extension of Section 179, a provision that provides a higher deduction level for some capital expenditures, like machinery and equipment, and the extension of bonus depreciation are key for producers. 

"Last year producers were able to expense up to $500,000 on capital investments, but this year that was lowered to $25,000," said Bacus. "For large equipment purchases and other capital investments, cattle producers need certainty in order to properly plan for their business." 

The equipment purchased, financed or leased must be within the specified dollar limits of Section 179, and the equipment must be placed into service in the same tax year that the deduction is being taken. For tax year 2014, this means the equipment must be put into service between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014. That means to take advantage of this expanded tax break- you must buy, take delivery and have the equipment being used by the end of the year. 

Click here for the complete statement from the NCBA.

Michael Kelsey of the Oklahoma Cattlemen also weighed in- emailing the OCA reaction to the vote in the Senate- calling it a priority of the organization here at the end of the year. Click or tap here to read the OCA comments.

The American Soybean Association also is pleased in the short term for this measure- for both the Section 179 help as well as the biodiesel tax credit that is also a retroactive part of this package. Click here for their full comments 

An Oklahoma-based company is looking to help farmers manage their costs and maximize their yields. SST Software, based out of Stillwater, is provider of precision ag tools for today's agricultural producer. CEO Matt Waits said they are working with agronomists to create variable rate fertilizer recommendations and variable rate seed applications. They are also using yield data from the combine to understand the spatial variability in the field. Waits said that data can be used to improve on-farm decision making.


The development of precision farm technology is allowing farmers to take a more in depth look at the variability in each field from the difference in soil types, fertility needs and production potential within an individual field. Waits said right now a lot of the data can be collected at varying resolutions, so how small and detailed that information is will depend on the technology being used. He said some of the planters allow for seeding rates to be controlled for each row and yield monitors are also getting more detailed in looking at the variation of yields across the entire header width. Waits said they can take all of that data down to a very small segment like ten meters and look closer at soil types and soil fertility levels. That kind of information can be used to make comparisons within a field. 


SST Software believes the future value of precision ag technology will be around getting local insights on a field from the larger data set from the local region. He said there are a limited number of hybrids and seeding rates a farmer can use, but if you can find comparable fields and look at what other farmers are planting and their farming practices, in anonymous fashion, then he thinks that can help deliver better insights and decision making for each field. 

I interviewed Waits recently at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention.  Click here to listen to the full interview.  

It's a concept that is done from time to time, taking something and auctioning it. Then basically giving it back so it can be auctioned again, again and sometimes again. It's been successful through the years, but perhaps Robert York with National Livestock Credit Corporation has actually perfected the art of a donated calf being auctioned and re-auctioned. They have done it five years now each December at the Oklahoma National Stockyards. This year's event was held Monday with great success raising over 61 - thousand dollars for the All American Beef Battalion. This was largest single donation to the cause. 


The fundraiser for the All American Beef Battalion began five years ago when Founder Bill Broady approached York. Several livestock sale barns had held similar auctions across the country. Broady thought Oklahoma City would be ideal location to hold a fundraiser. York said everyone at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and commission firms were supportive of the idea and the first auction was held. The first Oklahoma City fundraiser raised almost thirty thousand dollars, more than double what York expected the auction would raise. Since its inception the local event has raised over two hundred thousand dollars for the All American Beef Battalion. York said each year the fundraiser continues to gain momentum and this year proved to be another great year for everybody and everyone was feeling very generous.


The funds raised through the auction will go toward the All American Beef Battalion's mission of showing appreciation and respect for the Armed Forces Military Service members. In the past six years the Beef Battalion has fed more than 250 - thousand service members in 21 states. York commended the effort to support service members and their families.  Click here to listen to my full interview with York featured on the Beef Buzz.  

Selk Says It's Time to Begin Early Evening Feeding

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


It is generally accepted that adequate supervision at calving has a significant impact on reducing calf mortality. Adequate supervision has been of increasing importance with the higher price of live calves at sale time. On most ranching operations, supervision of the first calf heifers will be best accomplished in daylight hours and the poorest observation takes place in the middle of the night.


The easiest and most practical method of inhibiting nighttime calving at present is by feeding cows at night; the physiological mechanism is unknown, but some hormonal effect may be involved. Rumen motility studies indicate the frequency of rumen contractions falls a few hours before parturition. Intraruminal pressure begins to fall in the last 2 weeks of gestation, with a more rapid decline during calving. It has been suggested that night feeding causes intraruminal pressures to rise at night and decline in the daytime.


In a Canadian study of 104 Hereford cows 38.4% of a group fed at 8:00 am and again at 3:00 pm delivered calves during the day, 79.6% of a group fed at 11:00 am and 9:00 pm. A British study utilizing 162 cattle on 4 farms compared the percentages of calves born from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm to cows fed at different times. When cattle were fed at 9:00 am, 57% of the calves were born during the day, versus 79% with feeding at 10:00 pm. In field trials by cattlemen utilizing night feeding when 35 cows and heifers were fed once daily between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, 74.5% of the calves were born between 5:00 am and 5:00 pm. In the most convincing study to date, 1331 cows on 15 farms in Iowa were fed once daily at dusk, 85% of the calves were born between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm.  Click here to read more about this research study and how producers can influence when calves are born.   

This N That- The Wind Down Begins and Big Iron Wednesday and they Spell DROUGHT in California with All Caps

We are seeing the last 2014 sales in our feeder cattle auctions across the state this week- that was kicked off with the three major sales that we cover in our radio reports that operate on Monday- Joplin, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.  

All three indicated in their market reports that they were done for 2014- and that their next auctions will be held on Monday, January 5, 2015.  

This will also be the case for virtually all of the other sale barns across our state.  If you have cattle that you needed to sell in 2014- check with barns close to you that operate today, tomorrow or Friday- because after Friday- we expect no further sales to be happening until the new year.

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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 504 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.  

Finally- we wanted to point you to a really interesting article from the left coast this morning- the folks at NASA have calculated the amount of water they are short in California and have released the number this week- 11 TRILLION GALLONS.  

They say that this is more than one and half times as much water as there is in the largest water reservoir in the US- and means an inch here or there in rainfall is literally a drop in the bucket when it comes to the shortfall that California faces and will be facing for some time to come. 

Read details of the NASA report here.