Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News

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Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Specialist Dr. Kim Anderson addresses the latest estimates out from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this weekend's edition of SUNUP, he addresses the U.S. Crop Production report released Tuesday. Anderson said the estimates were inline with what the trade was expecting.

The U.S. wheat ending stocks were pegged at 692 million bushels. Anderson said that was increased by five million bushels, which was insignificant. The hard red winter wheat stocks were increased by 15 million bushels, which was semi-significant, but had no market impact.   U.S. corn ending stocks were lowered by 50 million bushels from last month. Anderson said with nearly 1.9 billion bushels in ending stocks that was insignificant. Soybeans were lowered by 20 million bushels with not much impact on the market.


SUNUP host Lyndall Stout asked Anderson about the export markets. Anderson said all-wheat exports are inline with expectations at 24 percent less than last year. He said U.S. hard red winter wheat exports are running 37 percent lower than last year.


In watching wheat prices, Anderson said they continue to "waller" around and he thinks they are waiting for the crop to come out of dormancy to establish a more definitive trend. Around the world, wheat harvest in Pakistan and India gets underway in March. In watching the Kansas City Wheat July futures contract, he thinks a critical price point is $5.55. If the price breaks that level, it could go to $5.40 or even $5.35. Anderson said for the wheat price to go higher it will need to break $5.76 to start an upward trend.


Read more from Kim's conversation with Lyndall as well as the chance to hear that interview ahead of when you can see it on SUNUP Saturday morning.  Click here to hear the interview and also to see the full lineup for this weekend's program.  

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State Climatologist Gary McManus says that the continuing drought has intensified statewide, affecting more Oklahomans. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows 65 percent of the state was in drought impacting 2.8 million people. Drought has expanded into eastern Oklahoma, which is being triggered by lower reservoir levels and soil moisture amounts. The latest report shows 5.75 percent of the state was in exceptional drought, 17.06 was in extreme drought, 22.73 was in severe drought, 19.05 was in moderate drought and 33.48 percent was abnormally dry.   The latest drought monitor map shows 65 percent of the state was in at least moderate drought(D1 through D4).


Since the start of the year, drought has expanded into eastern and southern Oklahoma. Each week the ongoing dry conditions continue to show its effect. At the start of the year, 25 percent of the state did not receive a drought classification. Last week only 5 percent of the state did not receive a drought classification.   As of Tuesday, less than 1.5 percent of the state was not receiving a drought rating.


The state's two major metropolitan areas are now in moderate drought, with all of Cleveland, Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties in that D1 classification.   


The drought's impact on reservoir storage was evident in the latest map from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. Lake Hefner was down 12 feet and Lake Overholser was down seven feet. In looking further west and south, the impact was more substantial. This week Lake Altus-Lugert was down 31 feet and Foss Lake was down 20 feet.

Click here to read more and review several graphics we have in our story on the website.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a report showing that since 2010 USDA and its partners in the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) have worked with private landowners to restore 4.4 million acres of habitat for sage-grouse while maintaining working landscapes across the West. USDA also announced that, through the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, it will invest in new sage-grouse conservation work over the next four years.


"We're working with ranchers who are taking proactive steps to improve habitat for sage-grouse while improving the sustainability of their agricultural operations," Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie said. "Thanks to the interest from ranchers and support of our conservation partners, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working to secure this species' future while maintaining our vibrant western economies. Since 2010, we've worked with ranchers to conserve, restore, or maintain more than 4 million acres of habitat on private lands - an area twice the size of Yellowstone National Park."


In the past five years, NRCS has invested $296.5 million to restore and conserve sage-grouse habitat, and has pledged to extend these efforts by approximately $200 million over four years through the conservation programs funded by the 2014 Farm Bill. Additionally, NRCS is piloting use of its Conservation Stewardship Program to broaden the impacts of SGI by targeting up to 275,000 acres to enhance sage-grouse habitat in 2015.

SGI is a diverse partnership led by NRCS that includes ranchers, state and federal agencies, universities, non-profit groups, and private business.  To read more about those partnership, click here.    

U.S. beef exports set a new record in 2014 and has the potential to go higher. At the recent Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio, Texas, CattleFax CEO Randy Blach said the current level of beef export value back to cattle producers is over $300 per head and he believes that's not the ceiling.


"If we can produce more product and we will, we will export more product because more and more consumers around the world love what we produce," Blach said.


U.S. beef is gaining a reputation globally for being high quality beef. Blach said U.S. beef is deferiating itself from most of the other beef that is put on the global market. He is seeing premiums grow, which shows the U.S. brand is very powerful.


"As consumer incomes grow, so will their demand for high quality protein in their diet, whether its beef, pork, poultry, dairy products, etc. and I don't see that slowing anytime soon," Blach said. 


With record cattle/beef prices, that is bringing a new set of challenges.  Read or have the opportunity listen to Randy Blach about the latest challenges as well as opportunities for producers, by clicking here.    

The House Committee on Agriculture Thursday sent its Budgets Views and Estimates Letter for Fiscal Year 2016 to the House Budget Committee. In the letter, Committee members urged Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price to take into account that the with the Farm Bill the Agriculture Committee made a significant contribution to deficit reduction with the passage of the Farm Bill, which Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated at the time would save $16 billion over 10 years. Despite a steep decline in commodity prices the CBO estimates that taxpayer savings remain intact.


"The Farm Bill is working as it was intended to work, meeting our objectives with substantially fewer resources," Committee members wrote in the letter. "From our perspective, we believe that the Committee on Agriculture has done its duty for now with respect to deficit reduction and that areas constituting the other 98 percent of the Federal budget ought to be looked to first for any additional savings being sought this Congress."         


"It is important not to gloss over the current difficult economic conditions in farm country, especially in parts of the country that have faced both sharply lower crop prices and natural disasters," Committee members wrote in the letter. "A good many producers are struggling to demonstrate to lenders that they can cash flow in order to secure credit and farm for another year. Adding to the anxiety of producers is implementation of the Farm Bill where complicated decisions with very significant consequences need to be made by February 27 and March 31 of this year. As producers continue to work through these issues, both economic and policy, it is important that Congress not adversely change the rules of the 5-year Farm Bill."  

To read Chairman Conaway's Opening Statement, click here.    

To read Ranking Member Collin C. Peterson response to the letter, click here.    

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains-  Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

March 15 has historically been a date for wheat producers to remember. Waiting much longer than that to pull cattle from wheat fields would result in a drastic decrease in yield.


Research has shown that First Hollow Stem, a particular growth stage in winter wheat, is the optimal time to pull cattle off wheat to prevent yield loss. Using Mesonet weather and soil data, as well as FHS observations from 1995-2012, researchers at Oklahoma State University have developed a tool for producers to consult when deciding how long to leave cattle on their wheat fields.


"Grazing too long will reduce wheat yields, but removing cattle too early will reduce the profit potential of the stocker cattle enterprise," said Jeff Edwards, OSU Cooperative Extension small grains specialist. "Finding the correct balance between these two factors has been the subject of investigation for decades."

Click here to read more about the First Hollow Stem Advisor and how it benefits producers.  

A measure that would allow wineries to ship wine in and out of state to certain customers has cleared the first hurdle in the legislative process.


House Joint Resolution 1002, by state Rep. Dan Kirby, would allow the citizens of Oklahoma to vote on a constitutional amendment in November to allow wineries that have been licensed by the Alcoholic Beverage Law Enforcement (ABLE) Commission to sell and ship wine directly to consumers who have visited the winery in person and purchased the wine on the premises.

This Joint Resolution has cleared its first hurdle in the House and awaits consideration in the full House.

Click here for more details.