On this Tuesday at the three general sessions of the opening day of the 2015 Oklahoma FFA State Convention, it is being celebrated that Oklahoma FFA members donated 351 animals between May 1, 2014, and April 1, 2015, to benefit the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
Members of 176 FFA chapters donated the animals as part of the FFA Hunger Challenge presented by the state FFA officer team. The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma was able to make 517,020 protein sticks from the animals donated. 

"The results on the April 1, 2015, deadline were a huge success by any measure. Oklahoma FFA chapters provided more than enough pork and beef protein sticks to supply every hungry child's backpack for well over a year," said Jack Staats, state FFA advisor and state agricultural education program administrator at the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education.

Merritt FFA chapter in southwest Oklahoma donated 19 animals, the most from any chapter. 

Click here to read more about this tremendous act of giving over this past year by FFA members- teens giving to kids in our state who are hungry and depend upon those food items weekends and over school holidays.

Today is the opening day of the 2015 State FFA Convention- and you can view the complete schedule of the two day event as well as see a lot of other information by clicking here for the special section of the Oklahoma FFA website dedicated to the state convention.

U.S. Avian Influenza Outbreak Brings New Set of Challenges Says USDA Chief Veterinarian 

About seven million turkeys and chickens have died from Avian Influenza virus outbreak that has spread to 16 states. Since December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent $99 million dollars in addressing the H5N2 virus. USDA Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. John Clifford said this deadly virus that has adapted to wild water fowl. But unlike previous avian influenza outbreaks, this strain doesn't seem to kill the wild water fowl. Clifford said for the first time, we are seeing this highly pathogenic avian influenza virus move around the Flyways of the world.


Clifford said the virus started in the Asian flyway and it has gone around South Korea and now it's in North America. Since December 2014, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N2) has been reported along the Pacific, Central and Mississippi Flyways. The virus has been transmitted to wild birds, captive wild birds, backyard poultry and commercial poultry. This virus is considered a very low risk for humans. USDA has been working closely with the Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control. Clifford said this is not a food safety risk.


Cases have been reported in Arkansas, California, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Clifford said this virus can be devastating to both turkeys and chickens, as mortality can reach 100 percent with turkeys and 60 percent with broilers. Further he said turkeys have an ability to easily pass the virus from bird to bird, while chickens seem to be a little more resistant to it. Part of that is the difference in how turkeys are raised versus chickens. 
 

With this virus transmitted by waterfowl, Clifford said that requires a different strategy for surveillance and prevention.  Click here to read or to hear Dr. Clifford's comments made to NAFB farm broadcasters- in our nation's Capitol for the 2015 edition of the annual Washington Watch fly in.

Corn Farmers Make Planting Gains But Progress Remains Slow, While USDA Reports Little Change In Southern Plains Wheat Crop

U.S. corn farmers made significant planting progress this week according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With 19 percent of total corn acres planted by April 26, growers progress increased by 10 points over the week but still fell further behind the five-year average.


"While farmers are planting during any windows that they see open, the weather continues to hinder overall progress," said National Corn Growers Association President Chip Bowling. "It is important to keep in mind that early progress is not a concrete indicator of what we will find at harvest though. Last year, corn planting started off even more slowly, and we harvested a record corn crop in the fall. Many opportunities and obstacles still lies ahead as a long growing season has only just entered growers' horizons." 

 To view the full report released Monday, click here.
 

Oklahoma's wheat rating was unchanged compared to a week ago. In the weekly crop progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state's wheat crop rated 37 percent good to excellent, 38 percent fair and 25 percent poor to very poor. Winter wheat headed jumped to 74 percent, up 21 points from normal. Wheat continued to suffer in the Panhandle due to limited moisture and drought conditions, while some localized areas in the west and south central regions reported rain above two inches. The canola crop rated 57 percent good to fair with blooming at 92 percent. With four days suitable for field work, seedbed preparation continued for corn, sorghum, soybeans, cotton and peanuts.  Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Winter wheat continued to mature in Texas. In the latest USDA report, the winter wheat crop rated 52 percent good to excellent, 33 percent fair, 15 poor to very poor with 60 percent of the crop headed. The crop gained one point in the good to excellent category and one point in the poor to very poor category. Hail damage was reported in the High Plains and the crop in South Central Texas experienced wind damage. Corn planting was 56 percent complete with nearly half of the crop emerged. Sorghum was 57 percent planted and soybeans were 21 percent planted. Range and pasture continued to progress across the state allowing for adequate forage for livestock.  Click here for the full Texas report.  


Rain across Kansas this past week hasn't helped the state's wheat crop. Precipitation of a half of inch or more was common across the state this past week. The latest report has the state's winter wheat crop rated 26 good to excellent, 43 percent fair and 31 percent poor to very poor. The poor to very poor category gained another three points. Winter wheat jointed was at 78 percent with headed at 18 percent. Corn planting was 32 percent complete with 13 percent of the crop emerged. Soybean and cotton planting just getting started.  Click here for the full Kansas report.
 

Peel Provides May Cattle Market Roundup

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


"It's nearly May and the April showers continue in the southern plains bringing May forage. For the first time in a long time parts of western Oklahoma are experiencing flash flooding. Not only are we enjoying more rain than in many months, but the cumulative effect of continued rains, heavy in some locations, will provide better soil moisture penetration and surface water replenishment than the same moisture total in sporadic rains.


"The April Cattle on Feed report pegs March feedlot placements fractionally above year ago levels, higher than expected. Placement consisted of a large increase in placements over 800 pounds with reduced placements for all weights under 800 pounds. March marketings were 98 percent of year earlier totals with one extra business day this year. The April 1 on-feed total was equal to the same time last year. Feedlot placements were up in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska but down in Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Nebraska had the largest state cattle on feed total for April 1; exceeding Texas for the third month in a row. Nebraska briefly exceeded the Texas total last year on May 1 for the first time in the current cattle on feed data series back to 1992."
  

Click here to read more as Peel discusses total cattle slaughter and herd expansion.    

Pate Teaches Effective Stockmanship at OSU

Curt Pate understands how to work cattle the right way and he goes around the country teaching audiences how to do that. He's from Wyoming and was in Oklahoma this last week teaching a group at Oklahoma State University's Totusek Arena. Pate teaches cattle handling, but doesn't like to refer to it as low stress livestock handling, but rather effective stockmanship.


"So, for whatever job I am going to do, whether it be working cattle in an auction market, in a feedyard or on a ranch, I want to be effective with my skills to get the job done in a way that is profitable, doesn't create a lot of stress on the animals and the consumer can accept," Pate said.


This involves handling animals at different stages of their life. With the cow-calf sector, Pate said producers are a trainer in getting animals where they learn how to work by moving away from pressure. Pate said if these animals aren't properly trained when they are a calf or when they are weaned, this can create problems when the animal gets in a stocker situation, goes to an auction market or through a big sale. Pate said cattle need to be prepared to go onto the next step, just like how youth are prepared to go onto to college.


"That takes stockmanship and stockmanship to me is a skill," Pate said. "Skills are learned and practiced and you get better with each time you do something."


I caught up with Pate in Stillwater.  Click here to listen to part one of this feature on cattle handling.  

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.

Seventeen Trait Approvals Cap Wild Week for Biotech in Brussels

After expressing severe frustration with the European Commission's proposal to allow EU member states to opt out of the import of food and feed containing biotechnology traits earlier in the week, the American Soybean Association (ASA) welcomed news out of Brussels Friday that the EU has approved 17 biotechnology traits for import. The traits, which include the Plenish and Vistive Gold high-oleic soybean varieties, as well as dicamba-tolerant and omega-3 soybeans, have been in the EU approval process for multiple years. ASA First Vice President Richard Wilkins, a soybean farmer from Greenwood, Del., noted the association's guarded optimism about the news in a statement:


"On the one hand, we're happy to see these traits finally receive Commission approval after years of delay. The 17 products approved by the European Commission today have been pending for 69 months on average despite EU laws and regulations that foresee an 18-month time period for a decision. Whenever our technology partners bring a new trait to market, farmers in the U.S. aren't able to fully recognize the benefits of products with those traits until they are accepted in all of our key export markets, so this is a big, big step forward. We are especially pleased with the announcement with regard to high-oleic soybeans, which will give food processors the frying and baking qualities they need in an oil without the need for partial hydrogenation which produces trans fats. Additionally, dicamba-tolerant soybeans will give soybean farmers another tool to prevent and manage weed resistance in their fields.


"On the other hand, however, this announcement means little if the EU persists in its current unscientific and delayed approval process for new varieties developed through biotechnology. Today more than 40 additional GM applications for import, submitted by various companies, remain pending in the EU system.
 

Click here to read more about the EU Commission allowing each of the EU's 28 member states to "opt-out" of allowing imports of a fully approved, safe GM products.