Spring Planted Crops Look Good in the Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas Weekly USDA Crop Reports 

Oklahoma crops continue to benefit from rainfall this growing season. According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, this ranks as the 9th wettest July since 1895, and the second since 1921. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday reported the state's corn crop rated 64 percent good to excellent condition. That's unchanged for the third straight week. Corn doughing reached 24 percent, down 30 points from average. Soybeans rated 56 percent good to excellent, down one point from last week. The state's cotton crop rated 75 percent good to excellent, down six points in the last two weeks. Cotton squaring reached 77 percent, ten points ahead of average. Sorghum rated 78 percent good to excellent, unchanged over last week with sorghum coloring reaching nine percent. The peanut crop rated 82 percent good to excellent, that's up one point since last week. Click here for the full Oklahoma report.


The Texas sorghum harvest has progressed in areas of the Southern High and Low Plains. USDA reports 20 percent of the crop has been harvested, behind the five-year average of 36. The sorghum crop improved by two points with 68 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition. The corn, soybean and peanut ratings were left unchanged over last week. USDA reports 63 percent of the corn crop was in good to excellent condition, soybeans rated 60 percent and peanuts rated 56 percent good to excellent. Cotton lost a point with 49 percent of the crop rated good to excellent. Pasture and range conditions rated 70 percent good to excellent. Click here for the full Texas report.


The quality of the crops in Kansas are holding nearly steady, while maturity lags behind average. The Kansas corn crop rated 58 percent good to excellent, unchanged from last week. Dough was at 18 percent, behind the 33 average. The state's soybean crop rated 51 percent good to excellent, down one point from the previous week. Blooming was at 48 percent, behind the average of 56. Setting pods was at 16 percent, which was near average. The state's cotton crop rated 62 percent good to excellent, up one point from last week. Cotton squaring was at 58 percent, which was near last year but well-behind the 75 average. Click here for the full Kansas report. 

Peel Says USDA Cattle Inventory Report Shows More Cattle Mid-Year

Mondays, Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry- both the livestock sector as well as the wholesale and retail beef trade. This analysis is a part of the weekly series known as the "Cow Calf Corner" published electronically by Dr. Peel and Dr. Glen Selk. Here's a part of this week's analysis:

"The July Cattle report confirms that U.S. cattle herd inventories are growing. The inventory of all cattle and calves on July 1 was 98.4 million head, up 2.2 percent from last year. The 2015 calf crop is estimated at 34.3 million head, up 1.2 percent from last year. Beef cow numbers were estimated to be up 2.5 percent at 30.5 million head. Beef replacement heifers were pegged at 4.9 million head, up 6.5 percent year over year. Slaughter data and the latest cattle on feed report confirm the herd expansion indicated in the inventory estimates. Beef cow slaughter is down 17 percent and heifer slaughter down 11 percent for the year to date compared to one year ago. The number of heifers on feed in feedlots on July 1was down 6.9 percent year over year, and is the lowest quarterly heifer on feed inventory since October, 1996.


"The dairy cow inventory is estimated at 9.3 million head, up 0.5 percent from last year. The inventory of dairy replacement heifers in the mid-year report is 4.2 million head, up 2.4 percent from one year ago. The increase in dairy cows and dairy replacement heifers is in contrast to the 4.2 percent year over year increase in dairy cow slaughter for the year to date.


"The estimated July 1 inventory of steers over 500 pounds was 14.1 million head, up 2.9 percent year over year, while the number of other heifers over 500 pounds was 6.8 million head, down 1.4 percent. The inventory of calves less than 500 pounds was 26.7 million head, up 2.3 percent year over year. The total number of cattle on feed in the U.S. on July 1 was estimated at 12.1 million head, up 1.7 percent from last year. These estimates lead to an estimated July supply of feeder cattle outside feedlots of 35.5 million head, up 1.8 percent from one year ago."

 Click here to read more from Dr. Peel about the current status of the cattle market.    

Five Nations Beef Alliance Says TPP Must Deliver New Opportunities

Beef producers from five Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries are calling for a high-quality market access deal on beef to be secured at the TPP ministerial meeting in Hawaii this month.


Negotiators and trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries will meet in Maui in late July, with the goal of reaching agreement on the outstanding issues across the TPP agenda.


The Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA) says it is vital that a comprehensive, trade liberalizing deal be finalized.


In so doing, it would help to ensure that beef producers and their supply chain partners can reap the maximum benefits of the envisaged tariff cuts and that commercial entities can utilize the other trade-facilitating elements of the agreement as soon as possible.

Click here to read more about the Five Nations Beef Alliance and TPP negotiations. 
 

NCBA VP Craig Uden Outlines Short and Long Term Goals, Challenges and Opportunities

The leadership team for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has their plate full- dealing with major policy and regulatory challenges, market access, consumer demand, as well as identifying the next individual to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the organization.  

At the 63rd Annual Oklahoma Cattlemen's Convention, I sat down with NCBA Vice President Craig Uden of Elwood, Nebraska, who  is a part of that leadership team. Uden comes from a diverse and extensive cattle background. He is a cattle feeder in central Nebraska, raises several cattle herds and has marketed cattle using the "Gate to Plate" concept. 


At the recent Summer Cattle Industry Convention in Denver, NCBA released its 2016-2020 Beef Industry Long Range Plan. The plan aims to increase wholesale beef demand by two percent annually over the next five years, increase beef exports, protect and enhance the business and political climate for beef, grow consumer trust in beef and beef production, while promoting and strengthening beef's value proposition. Uden said the beef industry needs to continue to grow domestic demand in targeting the millennial generation. He said this generation wants facts and information and safety is their number one concern, so the beef industry needs to be ready to answer those questions and show them how beef is produced.


NCBA continues to monitor many policy issues, like the Clean Water Rule and Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL). Uden said NCBA continues to ask the Environmental Protection Agency to pull the final 'Waters of the US' rule. Uden said it's a big intrusion that leaves room for interpretation. The cattle industry also continues to watch for action on the nation's COOL law. Uden is hopeful Congress can address COOL before retaliation sets in from Canada and Mexico, which represents 30 percent of U.S. beef exports and if the U.S. had to consume that amount of beef that could have a huge impact on the market and could derail this opportunity to grow the industry.  

We also talked about NCBA's membership dues increase and about the search for NCBA's new CEO.  Click here to read more or to listen to our full conversation.

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.

Cool Equine Managers Help Horses Avoid Heat Stress

The historic hottest part of summer is fast approaching, underscoring the importance for horse managers to review basic strategies that will help their equines avoid heat stress.


"Obviously high environmental temperatures are a key concern, but prolonged or intense exercise and inadequate hydration may all contribute to heat stress," said Kris Hiney, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension equine specialist.


Horses, like humans, dissipate the majority of their excess body heat through sweating. Horses can sweat as much as 10 to 12 liters per hour. Depending on the environmental temperature and the animal's workload, it is possible for a horse to become dehydrated in as little as two to three hours.


An equine that does not have adequate access to water will not be able to sustain the same sweating rate as a horse with proper hydration. In addition, there are physiological aspects that are important to avoiding heat stress.  Click here to read more about helping your horses deal with the hot temperatures.
 

This N That- Ag in the Classroom 2015 Summer Conference and Oklahoma FFA Grabs Two Star Slots 

Three hundred school teachers across Oklahoma gathered for the 2015 Ag in the Classroom Summer Conference yesterday at the Moore-Norman Career Tech facility- and Ag in the Classroom Coordinator Dana Bessinger told Bryan Painter in a story we have featured on our website that this summer conference is all about the teachers.

"We bring as many teachers in the state as we can together to get them ready to start the new school year," Bessinger said. "I taught school for 21 years and this is the part of the year where it's exciting because you're going back, but sometimes it's a little bit difficult to get a jumpstart after your summer. So this is just a great time.


"We want teachers to feel like they are special, to feel like they are appreciated and to get some ideas and activities and fun things to do in their classroom and integrate agricultural literacy while doing that. We want them to go back excited about teaching Ag in the Classroom in their classroom this year." 

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Texas proved to be the Big Dawg as the National FFA organization announced their sixteen Star Finalists yesterday in an official news release- the Lone Star state placed a finalist in all four categories of the Star competition that will be concluded at the 2015 National FFA Convention in Louisville at the end of October.  

Click here to read the release which details the sixteen finalists- four from Texas and two each from Oklahoma, Missouri and Wisconsin.  

Our two Oklahoma FFA members that will be hoping to hear their names called Saturday morning in Freedom Hall both have a great shot at being one of the Four Stars Over America this year- William Maltbie of Burlington and Gatlin Squires of Kingfisher.

Maltbie has won three national proficiency awards during his career- in 2010- he won in Turf Grass Management, 2011 in Landscape Management and in 2012 Diversified Horticulture.  Click here for our story from 2012 when he was honored as the first "threepeat"  Proficiency Award Champion for Oklahoma.
William Malbie hopes to be the next Star in Agribusiness as he travels to Louisville in October.

Gatlin Squires also is a veteran at the National level- representing Oklahoma in the national speech competition last year- he was a part of the 2012 National Champion Livestock Judging team from Kingfisher FFA. And- he polished his speaking and leadership skills this past year as he served as State FFA Secretary.  Squires is representing Oklahoma in the Star in Agriscience division. Click here to hear an interview we did with Gatlin this past spring in advance of the 2015 State FFA Convention.