The only crop that USDA is showing harvest progress being made at this point in the season is the US Grain Sorghum crop- and it stands at 18% complete, with Louisiana almost finished- Texas and Arkansas at their halfway point in harvest and Missouri and Oklahoma underway with each checking in with five percent of their sorghum now harvested. The Sorghum Crop continues to be called 68% good to excellent by USDA. Beyond the grain sorghum fields- few changes are seen in the nation's corn, soybean and cotton crops.  

In the top 18 corn producing states in the nation, crop condition was unchanged over the previous week. Overall the corn crop rated, 68 percent in good to excellent condition, 22 percent fair and ten percent poor to very poor. Crop maturity was behind the five year average with 20 percent of the crop mature and 76 percent dented.


The nation's soybean crop condition lost one point from the excellent category. In the top 18 soybean producing states in the nation, 63 percent of the crop was in good to excellent condition, 26 percent fair and 11 percent poor to very poor. With 96 percent of the crop setting pods and 18 percent dropping leaves.


The nation's cotton crop rating was a mixed bag. In the 15 main cotton producing states, USDA reported 53 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition, 35 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor. USDA reported 95 percent of the crop was setting bolls and 31 percent of the crop had cotton bolls opening, behind the five year average of 38.


Click here for the full national crop progress report.

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


Beef production for the year to date in 2015 is down 4.4 percent. This follows last year's 5.7 percent year over year decrease in beef production from 2013. Total cattle slaughter so far this year is down 6.6 percent from one year ago and follows the 7.1 percent annual decrease in 2014 from 2013. Offsetting decreased cattle slaughter are cattle carcass weights averaging 820 pounds for the year to date; an increase of nearly 20 pounds year over year. Carcass weights increased 12 pounds year over year in 2014.   2015 beef production is projected to be down on an annual basis compared to 2014 but just how much down depends on both slaughter levels and carcass weights among the various classes of cattle.


Steer slaughter so far this year is down 3.8 percent from the same period in 2014, similar to the 2014 year over year decrease of 3.9 percent from 2013. Steer slaughter has been down in 2015 despite a larger inventory of steers on feed. The quarterly steer on-feed inventory was up 5.4 percent on April 1 and up 7.1 percent on July 1. In the last three weeks of slaughter data, steer slaughter is down 0.5 percent from the same period last year. If the recent rate should persist till the end of the year, annual steer slaughter would be down 2.6 percent for the year. Steer slaughter may move above year earlier levels in the last part of the year. However, steer slaughter for the remainder of the year would have to exceed 7 percent above year earlier levels in order for steer slaughter to be higher for the entire year, which is unlikely.


Steer carcass weights for the year to date are averaging 877 pounds, up 17.5 pounds from the same period one year ago. Weekly carcass weights were 905 pounds in the most recent data, almost equal to the seasonal high of 906 pounds last November. Steer carcass weights averaged a record level of 900 pounds in the fourth quarter of 2014. Having already exceeded that level in August, it remains to be seen just how large steer carcass weights may average for the remainder of 2015.  Click here to read more about cow and heifer slaughter and cow carcass weights.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Tuesday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be awarding over $8 million in grants to help school nutrition professionals better prepare healthy meals for their students. Approximately $2.6 million dollars in grants will support implementation of new national professional standards for all school nutrition employees who manage and operate the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, and $5.6 million will go to help states expand and enhance food service training programs and provide nutrition education in school, child care, and summer meal settings.


"For the past three years, kids have eaten healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks at school thanks to the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which made the first meaningful improvements to the nutrition of foods and beverages served in cafeterias and sold in vending machines in 30 years. Nearly all schools are successfully meeting the standards, and these grants part of our ongoing commitment to give states and schools the additional resources they need," said Vilsack. "Parents, teachers, principals, and school nutrition professionals want the best for their children. Together we can make sure we're giving our kids the healthy start in life they deserve."


The grants announced Tuesday add to the large number of resources that USDA provides to help schools serve healthier food options that meet updated nutrition standards, including technical assistance, educational materials, and additional reimbursements. More than 95 percent of schools report that they are successfully meeting those nutrition standards, which were based on recommendations from pediatricians and other child health experts at the Institute of Medicine.  Click here to read more about USDA's grant activities.

Dr. Brad Morgan has taken his knowledge and passion for the meat industry to work for the foodservice distributor Performance Food Group. At the beginning of 2015, Morgan joined their corporate leadership team as the senior director of protein to work with end users of beef and pork. At the Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore, Morgan said one of his roles with Performance Food Group was to develop branded meat products that can be marketed nationally to more than 150,000 independent and national-chain restaurants, quick-service eateries, pizzerias, theaters, schools, hotels, health care facilities and other institutions. Morgan said the food service industry continues to be very competitive, but also rewarding as a lot of their customers are family-owned restaurants consisting of five restaurants or less.


Dr. Morgan said Performance Food Group aims to take any food product beyond being a commodity. In working with the food service industry, he said they have set out to give restaurant owners what they want, whether that's a lighter carcass, a smaller ribeye or an ideal amount of fat or marbling.   He said they are listening to their customers and creating products that their customers desire for their restaurants.


Performance Food Group is also aligning the beef industry through their program called "Path Proven". Morgan said this aligns the cow-calf sector to the feed yard to the processor, distribution and end user. This is a traceability program, where a DNA sample is collected from each anima and it allows them to trace back each animal in the program.

I caught up with Dr. Morgan in Ardmore at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium. Click or tap here to listen to today's Beef Buzz.

The rainfall totals from the Tuesday rains that extended into early Wednesday morning in southeastern Oklahoma have been impressive east of I-35- but rather disappointing for winter canola and winter wheat producers west of that Interstate- as only small pockets in the western half of the state got more than a sprinkle with this system that quickly has moved through the state.

Elk City got .88 and Chickasha received .80 inches of rain from the system- while Blackwell earned top honors in wheat and canola country with 1.69 inches of moisture.

East of the interstate- big rains soaked a lot of Green Country- and south of I-40 a couple of Mesonet stations topped four inches of rainfall- including Eufaula and Stigler.

South Central Oklahoma missed some of the heavier amounts- but southeastern Counties did better.  

For the latest rainfall totals- click here for the Oklahoma Mesonet Rainfall map which will allow you to interact and take a look in real time at the total for each Mesonet station in the state. 

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It's Wednesday- and that means the Big Iron folks will be busy closing out this week's auction items - all 368 items consigned.  Bidding will start at 10 AM central time.