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Most of Oklahoma is virtually done with the 2015 wheat harvest- Mike Schulte with the Oklahoma Wheat Commission tells us that everywhere except for the Panhandle is about 95% done or better.  

Mike writes in his final harvest report of this season "Wheat harvest is drawing to a close in most locations throughout the state with producers and harvesters finishing up in most areas along the Oklahoma/Kansas border. In the Panhandle regions of the state, rains this past week in Cimarron and Beaver Counties, have hindered harvest in some locations. Most regions in the Panhandle are reporting harvest to be 60% to 70% complete."

The rains of May helped wash away the drought but also washed out several pounds of test weight from the Oklahoma wheat crop- Schulte says "Overall quality reports from the Oklahoma crop indicate that test weights will be lower than expected with hopes for an overall average in the state of 56 lbs. to 57 lbs. per bushel. Protein averages for the state are reported to be slightly above 12%. Yields throughout the state in all locations have ranged all over the board. Yields reported for the most part have been in the low 20's to the mid 30's. Producers with better management practices that also had better weather reported yields as high as 60 bushels per acre in some locations."

Earlier this week- the Plantings Report from USDA trimmed the expected Oklahoma wheat harvested acreage number by 400,000 acres- USDA now expecting 3.7 million acres of wheat ground being harvested this season- and if we can hang onto the 28 bushel per acre state average USDA predicted in their June Crop Production report- that would put Oklahoma at 103.6 million bushels.  Schulte agrees with the harvested acreage number of USDA- he's not sure that we will hit that bushels per acre number from early June.   

We talked with Mike after he released his final harvest report last night- you can click or tap here and read the full report and also listen to our conversation about the wrap up of the 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest.

NCBA Calls Out Administration for Picking Politics over Science in Allowing Beef from South America

Fresh beef from South America is headed to the United States. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service released their final rules for the importation of fresh beef from northern Argentina and a region in Brazil. With this step by the Administration, these areas have a known history of Foot-and-Mouth disease would be allowed to begin the inspection process to import fresh and frozen beef products into the United States. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said this particular rule is especially disappointing to NCBA.


"It's extremely disappointing news because we have been working for several years now to push back against these proposed rules, which are now final, because we have a lot of concerns about the process USDA went through to formulate these rules," Woodall said. "We are all about trade. We believe in trade, trade is extremely important to the international beef market and the U.S. beef market, but we need trade based on science and right now there is nothing about the process that USDA when through that can help us understand that they have truly measured the risk, that they have proven there are mitigations to the risk and we can be safe and that's concerning to us."


NCBA believes USDA "failed in the process" when it came to this decision with Argentina and Brazil. Woodall said the first thing USDA should have done was a quantitative risk assessment. He said USDA really need to dig into what's going on in Argentina and Brazil and what those countries are doing to protect their domestic cattle herd, but also any herd of the countries they trade with. Further, he said USDA was supposed to do site visits, where they would have done inspections and seen what was going on and reported to stakeholders on what they found. 

I featured Woodall on our latest Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations across the southern great plains. Click or tap here to listen to this feature.   

This is one subject that United States Cattlemen's Association and R-CALF USA both agree with NCBA.  Click on the name of the group to review their comments.

July 4th Cookout Costs Less This Year, Still Under $6 Per Person

A Fourth of July cookout of Americans' favorite foods including hot dogs, cheeseburgers, pork spare ribs, potato salad, baked beans, lemonade and chocolate milk will cost slightly less this year and still comes in at less than $6 per person, says the American Farm Bureau Federation.


Farm Bureau's informal survey reveals the average cost for a summer cookout for 10 is $55.84, or $5.58 per person. That's about a 3-percent decrease compared to a year ago.


"Based on our survey, food prices overall appear to be fairly stable. Prices for beef have continued to increase this year, but prices for other meats are generally declining. Dairy product prices are also quite a bit lower," said John Anderson, deputy chief economist at AFBF.


"Meat production is starting to increase substantially. Beef prices have started to stabilize but have not declined yet. On the other hand, retail pork prices have been declining all year," Anderson said.


Click here to read more about Farm Bureau's summer cookout survey.

JBS Buying Cargill's Pork Business for $1.45 Billion- Including Sow Unit in Oklahoma 

Cargill has agreed to sell its U.S. pork business to JBS USA Pork for $1.45 billion, a deal that would combine two of the country's largest pork processors.

With the sale, Carill would exit a business it has been in since 1971, while Brazilian meat giant JBS would get more vertically integrated in U.S. pork, becoming a significant owner of sow farms and feed lots.

The companies announced the deal Wednesday, though the sale is subject to regulatory review and approval.

Cargill pork is headquartered in Wichita and had processing plants in Iowa and Illinois.  One of their sow operations is in eastern Oklahoma- in the community of Cameron- which is between Poteau and Fort Smith.  

Meatingplace reports that Michael Martin, Cargill's director of communications in Wichita,told them , "We were not looking to sell the business, but JBS approached us with an offer that we had to consider. Taking into account in terms of size where the businesses are, and also the focus of both companies, [the acquisition] made sense."  

Oklahoma Farm Bureau Submits Comments at Feral Swine Forum

The following are the written comments submitted by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau to the Oklahoma Board of Agriculture at a public forum on Tuesday in Oklahoma City:


"The Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a grassroots, membership-based organization with approximately 100,000 member families. We represent farmers and ranchers statewide and the largest population of landowners of any organization in the state. While we know thirty percent of wild hog herds carry disease, we also know that wild hog herds cause one hundred percent destruction. There is no doubt feral hogs cause major damage to the private property of our membership, especially to crop and hay fields.


"As a grassroots organization, OFB's policy positions come directly from our membership. These policy positions are updated annually. Our membership has made it clear the dumping of wild hogs for later hunting by sportsmen should be punishable by state law. Further, the State of Oklahoma should make a concentrated effort to eradicate wild hogs.


"We believe the way feral swine sport hunting is practiced right now is not an effective population control method. Some trappers are only interested in certain types of hogs, particularly the large hogs versus piglets. There are also concerns that high fence hunting facilities allow feral swine to escape under fences and continue to propagate.


Click here to read more about how Oklahoma Farm Bureau members believe the state should regulate the movement of feral hogs.

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.

Selk Offers Tips to Understand and Avoid Heat Stress in Cattle

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


Understanding and avoiding heat stress in cattle can be a valuable management tool for summertime in Oklahoma. Most areas of Oklahoma have 10 or more days each year above 100 degrees and 70 or more days with high temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. (Source: 1997 Oklahoma Climatological Survey). This means that most cow calf operations will be working cattle on days when heat stress to cattle is likely. Cattle have an upper critical temperature approximately 20 degrees cooler than humans. When humans are uncomfortable at 80 degrees and feel hot at 90 degrees, cattle may well be in the danger zone for extreme heat stress. Humidity is an additional stressor that intensifies the heat by making body heat dissipation more difficult. See the graphic below that illustrates the level of heat stress that cattle endure at varying temperature and humidity readings.


The temperature humidity index is calculated to help producers know when to avoid putting cattle in situations of undue stress and danger. It is extremely helpful in making decisions as to when to "work" cattle such as weaning fall born calves. The weaning process can be stressful enough in pleasant weather, but combined with a high temperature-humidity index can be fatal.


In most Southern Plains situations, the spring AI breeding season has been concluded. If however, a few cows are still to be bred artificially, time the breeding to be done in the early morning. Research has clearly shown that heat stress during and after insemination can be detrimental to reproductive success.


Click here to read more on how to manage cattle for herd health during the summer heat.

This N That- Brett Carver Honored, Michael Kelsey Coming Up In the Field and Happy Birthday America!!!

OSU Wheat Breeder Dr. Brett Carver has been presented with the 2015 Millers Award from the Wheat Quality Council.  The honor annually recognizes the wheat breeder of the variety most well-liked by millers participating in the WQC's evaluation program.


"This award recognizes the comprehensive nature of variety development by the OSU Wheat Improvement Team, whereby we prioritize product quality as much as we do product quantity," said Carver, who noted the latter gets more attention because of an emphasis on extending and protecting yield potential in new varieties, but the former is just as important.

Carver earned the award after two OSU candidate varieties - OK09125 and OK10126 - rose to the top of a pool of approximately 30 new varieties entered in the WQC's voluntary evaluation program. Millers from across the nation tested the varieties to determine the winner.  Click here to read more about OSU Wheat Improvement Team.    

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Coming up this Saturday- we have Michael Kelsey lined up for our weekly visit on News9 KWTV In the Field. Kelsey, who is the Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, will offer an update where the OCA stands on several key national issues (think COOL and WOTUS) as well as the efforts that OCA and other groups are involved in to get ready for the Right to Farm battle that is on the horizon in Oklahoma next fall.  

Our In the Field feature is seen Saturday mornings at about 6:40 AM during the Saturday morning news block on News9 in the Oklahoma City TV market.  We will also be posting our conversation on our website this weekend so those who miss it "live' can watch it later on after it airs Saturday morning.

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While the Fourth of July officially happens on Saturday- the country is observing a market and government holiday tomorrow- July 3rd.  That means that banks will be off on Friday- government offices will be closed on Friday and the stock market and ag futures trading all will be taking the day off on Friday.   

A lot of businesses will also be closed on Friday- and in fact, many of our auction barns are off today as well as tomorrow- be sure and call ahead before you load cattle to head to town- that market may or may not be open because of the Fourth of July holiday.

Like many of you- I am concerned about many things that are going on in this country- but I am thankful to God that I was born in this country and enjoy the freedoms that come with being a citizen of this great land!  I invite you to pray with me this Fourth of July holiday for God's blessing for America- and for leaders who will honor God in all of their decisions.  

We will NOT have an email update on Friday- we will return on Monday morning, July 6th!

Have a GREAT Fourth of July- and be safe as you travel!!!!