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Rainfall totals since the beginning of this past weekend are the best seen on a wide spread basis across Oklahoma in 2015, with more rain being predicted in the next seven days. More than 20 Mesonet stations received two inches of rain or more in the time period back to last Friday morning.


Topping the rainfall parade was Cheyenne in Roger Mills County with over four inches of rainfall for the period.  Two Mesonet sites exceeded the three inch rainfall mark- Erick- the closest Mesonet site to Cheyenne with 3.04 inches and Talihina all the way across the state to almost the Arkansas state line where they recorded 3.39 inches of rainfall.


Rainfall largely missed the Oklahoma Panhandle- although the seven day forecast suggests even the three Panhandle counties could see an inch or so of moisture. Heaviest totals- as shown in the News on 6 graphic below- may be in a large area of the state stretching from Idabel to Alva and from Grove to southwest of Oklahoma City.  

Click or tap here for more details about what's ahead- rain wise- for the latter part of the week- including highlights from this morning's weather blog from Alan Crone on the News on 6 in Tulsa.

U.S. corn planting was off to a slow start again in 2015. That's according to the latest crop progress report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With only two percent of total corn acres planted by April 12, progress lags behind the five-year average for this point by three percentage points and one percentage point behind of where it sat at this time in 2014.

"Corn planting has seen a slow, wet start in many places this year," said National Corn Growers Association President Chip Bowling. "But, it is important to keep in mind that last year planting season started off slowly, and we harvest a record corn crop in the fall. Farmers realize that the planting season has only just begun, and a long growing season, which may present opportunities and obstacles, still lies ahead."

Progress surpassed the five-year average in only one of the top 18 corn-producing states, Kansas, which exceeded average planting progress by six percentage points. Southern states which would have normally seen the most progress by this point continue to lag with Texas, Missouri and Tennessee 8, 11 and 18 points behind the five-year average respectively.  To view the full national crop progress report, click here.

Meanwhile- Prior to the beneficial rainfall, the condition of the Oklahoma wheat crop dropped drastically. The latest crop weather report from USDA has the crop down seven points in the good to excellent category over the past week. USDA rates the crop 36 percent good to excellent, 38 percent fair and 26 percent in poor to very poor condition. Winter wheat jointing reached 89 percent by Sunday, up 13 points from the previous year and up 8 points from normal. The canola crop is rated 56 percent fair to good. Seedbed preparation for corn, sorghum, soybeans and cotton is underway.  Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Recent rains continued to progress the winter wheat crop in Texas. In the latest USDA report, the winter wheat rated 52 percent good to excellent, 36 percent fair and 9 percent poor to very poor condition and 22 percent of the crop was headed. Some wheat growers have reported issues with rust. Spring planting remained behind last year and the five year average.  Sorghum planting was 39 percent complete. Rainfall and warm temperatures aided pasture growth across much of the state.  Click here for the full Texas report.

The Kansas winter wheat crop continues to deteriorate as a result of drought stress and insect damage. The latest report shows the winter wheat crop rated 28 percent good to excellent, 44 percent fair and 28 percent poor to very poor. The wheat crop dropped five points in the good to excellent category over last week's report. Winter wheat jointing reached 42 percent, ahead of 29 last year, but equal to five-year average.  Click here for the full Kansas report.

FDA Reports Positive Trends in Antimicrobial Resistance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two reports Monday that measure antimicrobial resistance in certain bacteria isolated from raw meat and poultry collected through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). The reports - the 2012 Retail Meat Report and the 2013 Retail Meat Interim Report - showed mostly decreasing antimicrobial resistance trends.


NARMS focuses on resistance to antibiotics that are considered important in human medicine as well as multidrug resistance (described by the FDA as resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics). Under the NARMS program, samples are collected from humans, food producing animals and retail meat sources, and tested for bacteria, specifically non-typhoidal Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli and Enterococcus, to determine whether such bacteria are resistant to antibiotics used in human and veterinary medicine.


Among the key findings of the reports:

 -- A recent decrease in third-generation cephalosporin resistance among poultry meats continued in 2012 and 2013.   

-- Resistance in Salmonella from retail chicken declined from a peak of 38 percent in 2009 to 28 percent in 2012 and continued to decline to 20 percent in 2013. 

Click here to read more of the key findings, including links to the full 2012 Retail Meat Report and the 2013 Retail Meat Interim Report.
 

Beef Checkoff Touching Consumers Through Engagement

Cattle industry leaders have had to be innovative in stretching producer's dollar invested in the nation's beef checkoff. A couple of years ago, Cattlemen's Beef Board leaders saw the number of cattle in the US shrinking along with the available resources through the beef checkoff. These leaders took a new direction in regards to advertising beef. The checkoff moved away from traditional print ads and moved its advertising to a digital platform. The first full year of results are in and they are mighty impressive, according to Cattlemen's Beef Board Chief Executive Officer Polly Ruhland. With more than 3.6 million page views on the beefitswhatsfordinner.com website and more than five million views on their recipe videos website.   


"There's a lot of ways that we engage consumers and I think the important word is 'engagement'," Ruhland said. "Old time advertising was more of a 'tell'. This is more a discussion that we have with consumers about how we raise cattle, about the nutritional benefits of beef, about everything about beef that consumers may be asking questions about or that they may not be sure about. Engaging them through videos, through discussions, through bloggers, through amplification of opinions of third parties. All of those kinds of things is the way we use social media to really get message about beef out and to incorporate discussion into our beef marketing plan."


Making the switch to a digital platform was a risk, but Ruhland said the producers that make decision for checkoff dollars looked at the market research. She said that risk has paid off as the reward has been big for the producers that made that decision. She is 100 percent behind the switch.  

I featured Ruhland in our daily Beef Buzz feature. Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz. 

Peel Addresses Changing Dynamics of Mexico's Cattle Industry

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


"The Mexican cattle and beef industry is always dynamic and continues to evolve. The industry has faced challenges in recent years with declining cattle inventories while attempting to maintain domestic production and cattle exports; all while beef exports have increased sharply.


"The Mexican beef cattle industry experienced the same drought conditions that affected the U.S. in 2011-2013 leading to forced herd liquidation. Moisture conditions improved significantly in 2014 and so far in 2015. Herd expansion has been slow to begin in Mexico but may be beginning at the current time. Cows and heifers have played a large role in maintaining domestic Mexican beef production and cattle exports in recent years and increased female slaughter contributed to herd liquidation.


"Record U.S. cattle prices and a weakening Peso contributed to a 12.8 percent year over year increase in Mexican cattle exports to the U.S. in 2014 despite extremely tight cattle supplies in Mexico. Increased Mexican cattle exports in 2014 included more steers and spayed heifers compared to the previous year. U.S. imports of Mexican cattle are up less than one percent for the first two months of 2015 compared to last year. Year to date U.S. imports of Mexican steers are up 4.5 percent while heifer imports are down nearly 15 percent."


Click here to read more about U.S. imports of Mexican beef and Peel's outlook for herd rebuilding in Mexico.  

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.

Go All Out- Oklahoma FFA President Garrett Reed Ready to Lead at 2015 State Convention

Garrett Reed is from Eastern Oklahoma and is representing the Locust Grove Chapter in Mayes County on the State Officer team for the second year. Reed is the 2014-2015 President of the Oklahoma FFA, and leads the organization made up of some 27,000 members from all across the state. The Oklahoma FFA is the fifth largest state FFA organization, in terms of number of members. Reed is currently a sophomore at Oklahoma State University.


I sat down and talked with Reed in Stillwater just a few weeks ahead of his "grand finale" as State FFA President- leading out at the 2015 State FFA Convention April 28 and 29 in downtown Oklahoma City. We talked about his life in the FFA organization, representing the state FFA at the national level as well as within the state as he has interacted with business leaders and other adult supporters of the youth development organization. 


Reed believes that FFA has allowed him to develop his leadership skill set during his six years as a FFA member. He has participated in a variety of speech contests and other leadership activities- but his favorite career development event, however, was horse evaluation. "I come from a chapter that has a rich tradition in judging horses. Over the years, I have been able to compete and hold titles from national and world horse judging events."

Reed is being featured in April and May as one of the voices in an Oklahoma FFA radio campaign to raise awareness for the young men and ladies who wear the Blue and Gold jacket in the state of Oklahoma. The Campaign is being sponsored by SandRidge Energy, the Power of Us. Click here to learn more about the SandRidge story. 

You can hear the full conversation that I had with Garrett Reed by clicking or tapping here.  

This N That: Black Sunday Anniversary Today at the Capitol, Okies in DC and AFR Cattle Grading Contest 

This morning, more than 30 survivors of the huge Dust Storm that swept across Oklahoma and propelled dust all the way to the East Coast will gather to remember April 14, 1935- known as Black Sunday.  That whole decade was known as the Dirty Thirties- but the Black Sunday event was the proverbial "shot heard around the world" when it came to the Dust Bowl and the desperate need for conservation to counter the massive clouds of dust that enveloped the region.   

At 9:00 AM this morning, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, along with the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts and the USDA's NRCS will be sponsoring a panel of those who lived through Black Sunday 80 years ago to allow them a chance to tell their story.   

Much of our modern Conservation movement, especially here in Oklahoma- has its roots in the hard times of that era.  

We'll be there and share some of the stories from this morning with you in the days ahead- and we'll be tweeting in real time this morning if you want to follow along- our handle is Ron_on_RON.

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At least two ag related groups from Oklahoma are busy in Oklahoma this week- the Congressional Action Trip of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau did some historical touring yesterday- including a stop at Monticello- the home of Thomas Jefferson.  Today- they will be spending some time at the American Farm Bureau headquarters and then on to Capitol Hill.

Also in DC is the collegiate group- Oklahoma Ag Leadership Encounter.  They are wrapping up their time in DC today, but Executive Director of the Oklahoma Youth Expo, Tyler Norvell, tells us that they will be busy today- with planned meetings with House Ag Committee Chief Economist Bart Fischer, Senator Jim Inhofe and Congressmen Cole, Mullin and Lucas.  They met with Senator James Lankford yesterday.  OALE is the leadership development arm of the Oklahoma Youth Expo.  The group of OSU students fly home tonight.

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Because of some scheduling considerations- the annual Oklahoma City Farm Show Commercial Cattle Grading Contest was actually held a week ahead of the Farm Show this year- at OKC West in El Reno.

Sponsored once again by American Farmers & Ranchers, who provide more than $6,000 in scholarships for the annual contest. 

High individuals in the FFA division were Jacob Gould of the Perkins-Tryon FFA Chapter, in first place, Grace Blackwell, of the Oktaha FFA Chapter, in second place, and Laura Wood, of the Vinita FFA Chapter, in third place.


High individuals in the 4-H division were Kayln Branen of Rogers County 4-H, in first place, Laysen Garrett, of Logan County 4-H, in second place, and Tracy Criner, of Porter 4-H, in third place. 

More details about the contest and team placings are available here. 

REMEMBER- the Oklahoma City Farm Show kicks off this Thursday morning at 9:00 AM at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City- click here for more details!