Oklahoma Wheat Crop Now 58% Complete- Mike Schulte Updates With
His Latest Harvest Report 

Sunshine, south winds and hot temperatures are helping push the 2015 hard red winter wheat harvest forward- and the latest harvest report from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission shows that harvest is moving rapidly forward in most of the Oklahoma wheat belt not done with cutting their wheat. Executive Director Mike Schulte said harvest is 58% complete, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Right as the USDA report was being released- I caught up with Schulte and we talked about those numbers and what he has been hearing in his phone calls all over the state- click here to listen to our conversation. 

 "Wheat harvest has made steady progress in all regions of the state over the weekend. Most areas in Southwest Oklahoma down by Grandfield, Frederick and Altus regions have wrapped up for the most part with managers calling the harvest 99% complete. Other parts of South Central Oklahoma have also progressed with approximately 80% of the crop harvested around the Sentinel and Rocky areas. Areas around Watonga, Omega, Greenfield and West of Thomas are 60% to 70% complete based on locations. Around the Okarche, Kingfisher and Cashion areas harvest is starting to wind down with over 95% of the wheat harvested.


"In Northwest Oklahoma custom cutters and producers made large gains over the weekend. It is reported around the Helena and Goltry areas that approximately 60% of the crop is harvested, and with the forecast this coming week, they are hoping harvest will be complete in this region by Friday. In Burlington approximately 65% of the crop is harvested. Wheat harvest is also moving along around the Ponca City and Blackwell areas being considered 50% complete.

"Test weights throughout the state are averaging 57 lbs. to 59 lbs. per bushel. In areas of South Central Oklahoma managers continue to report lower test weights and lower yields based off the heavy rains and hail storms that were received in May. Producers in South Central Oklahoma as well as Central and Northern Oklahoma have been fighting the mud in all locations, with many reports of combines getting stuck while out in the fields."

Schulte adds "Yields have been ranging all over the board ranging from 20 bushels per acre to as high as 50 bushels per acre."

Wheat Harvest Makes Progress Across Southern Plains, Despite Rain from Tropical Storm Bill

Oklahoma wheat harvest made huge strides this past week, even with the arrival Tropical Storm Bill. The latest crop progress report shows wheat harvest gained 20 percentage points. As of Sunday, wheat harvest reached 58 percent complete. That's remains 12 points behind last year and 15 points from normal. Canola harvest reached 78 percent complete. That's a jump of 21 points from last week. Canola harvest remains behind last year and the five-year average. Corn planting reached 96 percent, peanuts reached 90 percent, soybeans were at 86 percent, cotton was at 82 percent and sorghum planting was 72 percent done. Pasture and range conditions rated 77 percent good to fair. Click here for the full Oklahoma report.

Wheat harvest was temporarily delayed in Texas, as Tropical Storm Bill last week dumped up to 20 inches of rain in the Upper Coast region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports wheat harvest progressed to 64 percent complete. That's an increase of 17 points in the past week. Corn and sorghum in the Southern High Plains, the Blacklands and South Central showed signs of stress due to standing water. Planting of row crops continued to progress, with cotton, corn, sorghum, in line with normal. Soybeans planting reached 84 percent complete, 15 points behind normal. Click here for the full Texas report.


Wheat harvest has gotten underway in southern Kansas. USDA reports harvest was eight percent complete, behind last year's 21 percent and the average of 33 percent. Corn emerged was 94 percent. Cotton planting was at 80 percent complete, sorghum planting was at 78 percent, and soybean planting was at 73 percent. Click here for the full Kansas report.

Nationally, soybean and cotton planting has nearly wrapped up. That's according to the latest crop progress report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Soybean planting was 90 percent complete. That's five points behind last year and the five-year average. USDA reports 84 percent of the soybeans have emerged with 65 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition, 27 percent in fair and eight percent in poor to very poor shape. That's a drop of two points in the good to excellent category over last week's report.


Cotton planting reached 94 percent complete. That's behind last year and the five-year average. The crop rated in 55 percent in good to excellent condition, 36 fair and nine percent poor to very poor. The crop was downgraded in losing two points in the fair category. Sorghum planting nationally reached 85 percent complete.


The nation's corn crop was rated 71 percent good to excellent, 23 percent fair and six percent poor to very poor. The crop lost two point from the good to excellent category over last week's report.


To view the full national crop progress report, click here.

Peel on Turning Fewer Cattle Into Bigger Feedlot Inventories

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


The June USDA Cattle on Feed report shows May placements at 90 percent of last year and marketings at 92 percent of last year. There was one less business day in May this year compared to last year. The June 1 on-feed total was 101 percent of last year.


Feedlot inventories have averaged 0.4 percent higher each month on a year over year basis in the first six months of 2015. This compares to the same period last year when monthly feedlot inventories were down 2.4 percent on a year over year basis. Feedlot inventories transitioned to higher levels in late 2014 as a result of several factors. Large placements of lightweight feedlot placements in the first half of 2014 contributed to a trend of increased days on feed that began in the second quarter of 2014. Though feedlot placements have been dominated by heavyweight placements since the middle of 2014, increased days on feed has continued as feedlots pushed carcass weights to record levels. Carcass weights for the year to date in 2015 are up an average of 2.2 percent year over year compared to an average 0.1 percent decrease for the same period last year. These factors have contributed a slower feedlot marketing rate. Marketings as a percent of feedlot inventories have averaged 15.2 percent for the year to date compared to 16.2 percent for the same period last year. 

Click here to read more from Derrell Peel.  

USDA Seeks Partner Proposals to Protect and Restore Critical Wetlands

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Monday announced the availability of $17.5 million in financial and technical assistance to help eligible conservation partners voluntarily protect, restore and enhance critical wetlands on private and tribal agricultural lands.


"USDA has leveraged partnerships to accomplish a great deal on America's wetlands over the past two decades, Vilsack said. "This year's funding will help strengthen these partnerships and achieve greater wetland acreage throughout the nation."


Funding will be provided through the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP), a special enrollment option under the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program's Wetland Reserve Easement component. It is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Under WREP, states, local units of governments, non-governmental organizations and American Indian tribes collaborate with USDA through cooperative and partnership agreements. These partners work with willing tribal and private landowners who voluntarily enroll eligible land into easements to protect, restore and enhance wetlands on their properties. WREP was created through the 2014 Farm Bill and was formerly known as the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program.

Proposals must be submitted to NRCS state offices by July 31, 2015.  Click here to read more about wetland projects.

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.

An Oklahoma State University student is one of 12 college students to be a part of the #RealPigFarming Student Social Forces team this year. Melanie Jackson is an agricultural communications student at Stillwater. The Pork Checkoff selected students based on their involvement in the pork industry and their strong communication skills. The team will be active through the end of the year.


"Social media is ingrained in young people's daily lives," said Claire Masker, public relations manager for the Pork Checkoff. "It's easy for them to share their thoughts about an industry that they are proud to be a part of."


Consumers continue to have questions about how pigs are raised, and no one knows the answers better than pork producers. The Pork Checkoff's social media outreach program is helping real farmers share real stories with consumers through #RealPigFarming. The hashtag (#) before Real Pig Farming helps people search social media posts with the same phrase, making it easier for them to follow conversations.  Click here to read more about the #RealPigFarming social forces team.
 

This N That- Boxed Beef Sales Benefit from Father's Day, Ralgro Wheels Wanted and Lake Levels Updated

On a regular basis, Ed Czerwein of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Market News Office in Amarillo, Texas offers a review of the previous week's boxed beef trade.  Here is the weekly boxed beef trade for week ending Friday, June 20th. The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Friday at $251.32, which was $5.60 higher compared to last Friday and no doubt benefited from Father's Day and the Fourth of July being close together. There were 612 loads sold for the week in the daily box beef cutout. It was about nine percent of the total volume.   


The comprehensive or weekly average Choice cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily spot cutout was $246.80 which was $2.66 higher regaining some after losing over $14 in the previous two weeks. Click here to listen to Ed Czerwein's full report.

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The Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association encourages producers to roll in those empty Ralgro® wheels into the upcoming annual convention and turn those wheels into cash.


"The Wheels for Bucks program and Ralgro deliver value to the producer in two ways," says Charlie Swanson, OCA President Elect "members benefit from the additional weight Ralgro adds to their calves and our association gains more cash resources."


For every wheel received during the 63rd Annual Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Convention and Trade Show, Merck Animal Health will give $1 to help fund scholarships for OCA members to attend national cattle conferences and events.

More details on the tradition of turning those wheels in to benefit the OCA are available here. 

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News9 Lead Meteorologist David Payne posted a graphic last night on Twitter that we thought we might share with you this morning- showing where we are in the amount of water in our lakes- tit shows huge levels of water in several eastern Oklahoma lakes while Foss is still 11 feet below normal- even after huge rains across much of the state in May and June.

Here's that graphic below- and you can click here to catch up with the forecast for central and western Oklahoma showing chances of rain start picking up Friday.  For our folks in the the News on 6 part of our state- here's the eastern Oklahoma forecast.