Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News

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The beef cow population in the United States is expected to grow by over three million head in the next three to five years. The economic signals for building/rebuilding the herd are clear, and in the next four to six years, the location of the U.S. cow herd is going to look considerably different than it did before the 2011 drought, according to a new report from the Rabobank Food & Agribusiness (FAR) Research and Advisory group.

A co-author of the report is Don Close- and we talked with Don yesterday morning after the report was released.  Close says that there are several factors that jump out at him- there will be less rebuilding of the beef cow herd out on the west coast and in the southeast- while our part of the world will become even more important in the number of mama cows on our ranches- especially if drought will stay away to allow the process to move forward.

He also thinks that we will see mama cows being added in the upper midwest and the corn belt states.   

You can hear our full conversation and read more by clicking or tapping here for our feature story on this Rabobank report.

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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. Glenn Selk. In this week's analysis- Dr. Peel focuses the incentives that are helping beef cow herd expansion:


"The dramatic rise in calf prices in 2014 and the corresponding increase in cow-calf returns highlight the growing market incentives to rebuild the beef cow herd. As the primary supply source for the beef industry, cow-calf producers will, by their decisions in the next two to four years, determine the inventory of cattle and the overall level of beef production in the U.S. for the remainder of the decade. Dramatic improvement in forage and pasture conditions in much of the country in 2015 means that the beef cattle industry can focus on doing what they want to do rather than being restricted to what they have to do. Much of the far west regions of the country are still hampered by severe drought in areas that represent about 9 percent of the total beef cow herd."

Dr. Peel adds that we got a great start in rebuilding the beef cow herd in our part of the world in 2014- and 2015 is shaping up as another year of rapid rebuilding as well.  You can read his full analysis on our website by clicking or tapping here.   

Corn's national condition stayed at 70% good to excellent in Monday's USDA update with the excellent rating gaining 1 point and good slipping one as minor improvements in Indiana and Nebraska were offset by small declines in a number of states including Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. At this point last year, 73 percent of corn acres were in good or excellent condition.

Meanwhile, the US Soybean crop improved by one percentage point in the good to excellent category this week- now at 63% good to excellent versus 62% a week ago- but well under the 71% rating at this point in 2014.

We mentioned Iowa in the title- and they certainly are having a great growing season thus far in 2015- the corn crop ratings in Iowa are at 83% while the soybean crop ratings are almost as good at 79% good to excellent.  

We have an overview of the National Crop Progress numbers on our website for you to check out this morning- click here and jump there- you'll find a link on over to the full report as well.  

Meanwhile- The Oklahoma Crop Weather Summary for August had a remarkable statement in the weather summary found at the top of the report dated August second. State Statistician Wil Hundl and his staff wrote "No areas of the state were experiencing drought, compared with last year at this time when 76 percent of the state was in some category of drought." The weekly summary showed that there is not a lot of difference in the top soil moisture profile this first week of August versus a year ago- as some heavy rains hit Oklahoma last July. The real difference seen is in the subsoil profile. In 2014- the subsoil profile stood at 40% adequate- nothing surplus versus the 64% adequate to surplus seen in today's report.   

More details of the Oklahoma Crop Weather Summary are available here.  

The U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance's Domestic Working Group held a technology meeting in Montreal this past week to recommit to address any worldwide asynchrony regulatory risks associated with the commercial possibilities for biotechnology during the next three years. During the meeting, representatives from all parts of the value chain worked together, creating an understanding of both the biotechnology derived products which have or may gain U.S. regulatory approval, their international approval status and possible market risks in an attempt to help farmers understand the status of new products in world markets before they plant these varieties.


Held in conjunction with the U.S. Grains Council's Annual Board of Delegates Meeting, USBCA laid the groundwork for ongoing discussions on how to move forward as an industry that simultaneously values farmer access to valuable biotechnology-based tools and export markets for their end product. The discussions will continue this December during regularly scheduled meetings.  

More details are available here.

At the recent Cattle Industry Conference in Denver, the US Cattle industry updated their Long Range Plan- extending the vision out from 2016 to 2020. The Long Range Plan is based on the Vision statement "To responsibly produce the most trusted and preferred protein in the world."We talked about the Long Range Plan with National Cattlemen Beef Association Vice President Craig Uden of Nebraska when Uden was at the 2015 OCA Convention- and his comments on the Plan are featured in today's Beef Buzz.


Uden says that several priorities surfaced out of the Long Range Plan. At the top of that list- to continue to improve on exporting beef into the global market. Uden told us "we have 96-97% of the world's population that lives outside of our borders and there's growing demand for our product as these other countries incomes increase- and you know, we still own the taste and own the quality so there is a lot of demand out there" for US beef.  

Read more- and take a listen to Craig Uden's comments by clicking here for this edition of the Beef Buzz.

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.

Ed Czerwein with the USDA market news office in Amarillo reports that the latest weekly wholesale boxed beef sales report shows higher choice boxed cutout values in the US beef market- while the comprehensive cutout slipped in value compared to a week earlier.

Czerwein reports "Weekly boxed beef trade for week ending Aug 01 The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Fri at 233.25 which was .55 hgr compared to prev fri. There were 672 loads sold for the week in the daily box beef cutout. It was almost 11 % of the total volume.

"The Comprehensive or weekly avg Ch cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily spot cutout was 231.94 which was 1.24 lwr. Last year we were in the midst of a large increase in the choice cutout that was supported by the demand for ground beef which pushed the round and chuck prices quite a bit higher along with the cow cutout but we have are not got that support this summer."

Breaking down the carcass, Czerwein adds "Taking a look at the weekly avg primal cut prices. The Ch middle meats which are the loins and Ribs were 1-5 lwr. The choice chuck and the rnd was steady which again is a much tougher situation than last summer when they both skyrocketed."

Click here to read more and to listen to Ed's analysis on the wholesale trade from this past week.

In a notice issued Monday, the WTO has scheduled an arbitration hearing for September 15-16, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland, to hear evidence presented by the United States, Canada and Mexico regarding the impact that COOL has had on Canada's and Mexico's livestock exports.  

According to the WTO website- this meeting will be not be behind closed doors- details on this open meeting are available here. 

The outcome of this arbitration will be the amount of damages that will be the basis of tariffs that Canada and Mexico can impose against the US because of our COOL rules that are not trade compliant according to the World Trade Organization.

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Lots of things are on our calendar for the month of August- including the upcoming Women in Ag Conference later this week at the Moore-Norman Career Tech Center and the always awesome Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore on Saturday.

Click here for our complete calendar listing as found on the Oklahoma Farm Report website- and remember- you can always send us calendar items to add by emailing yours truly by clicking here.

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Speaking of the Southern Plains Beef Symposium- one of the speakers on the agenda this Saturday is Dr. Jayson Lusk of OSU- he's always being quoted or interviewed by a variety of national media outlets- and does a great job.

The latest is a video conversation he had yesterday with Stuart Varney on the Fox Business channel- click here to jump over to Jayson's blog where he has that conversation you can watch- he was responding to gloom and doomers who say we will run out of food by 2040. Jayson is not buying that rubbish and explains in this response that you can watch.