Earlier this year, highly pathogenic avian influenza resulted in the depopulation of 7.5 million turkeys, 42.1 million egg-layer and pullet chickens and costs taxpayers $950 million. The U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as industry groups such as the National Chicken Council have compiled comprehensive response materials to help coordinate and respond against future HPAI infections.


"APHIS is keenly aware of the significant impact the spring outbreak has had on all parties-poultry producers, allied industries, federal and state governments, and the American consumer. As we near the beginning of the fall season, APHIS is confident that its surveillance programs in commercial and wild birds, which are the strongest in the world, will enable us to detect the disease early. If HPAI should reappear in the coming months, APHIS is ready to respond and committed to helping those affected by the disease," APHIS said.


The decline in HPAI detections provided an opportunity to enhance prevention efforts and prepare for additional backyard and commercial poultry cases that may occur in the fall when birds migrate south from their northern breeding grounds, USDA said in its Fall 2015 Preparedness and Response Plan. While HPAI infections since December 2014 have been identified in three of the four U.S. flyways, USDA said it expects HPAI viruses will be brought to the Atlantic flyway by migrating ducks, if they are not already present but as yet undetected in the resident wild duck population.


USDA said it learned many things through this spring's outbreak and have assumed a worst-case scenario beginning in mid-September 2015, with HPAI occurring simultaneously in multiple sectors of the poultry industry throughout the nation. Under this scenario, 500 or more commercial establishments of various sizes could be affected.

Click here to read more about the Fall 2015 HPAI Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan.

Harvesters were rolling along, as fall harvest was underway across much of the nation this past week. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported harvest was taking place for the nation's corn, sorghum, soybean and cotton crops.


Ten percent of the nation's corn crop has been harvested, five points behind the five year average- but ahead of the 2014 harvest by three points. In the Midwest- the three "I" states are in their early stages of harvest- Illinois 13%, Indiana 8% and Iowa at just 2% harvested to date. Our neighbors in Missouri are further along- with 26% of their corn now in the bin. The crop condition remained unchanged with 68 percent rated good to excellent. 

Sorghum harvest was taking place in nine of the top sorghum producing states in the nation. Harvest was 26 percent complete, behind the average of 28. Sorghum harvest in Louisiana leads the nation with 95 percent of the crop harvested. Crop maturity was seven points ahead of average with 52 percent of the crop mature. The nation's sorghum crop condition fell slightly with 66 percent in good to excellent condition.

Soybean harvest numbers appeared this week on the national crop progress report. Progress was on track with the five year average with seven percent of the crop harvest. Louisiana was the furthest along with 66 percent of the crop harvested. Soybean maturity was ahead of average with 56 percent of the crop dropping leaves. The condition of the nation's soybean crop improved in gaining two points with 63 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition.


Cotton harvest was taking place in 11 of the nation's largest cotton producing states. Harvest has reached seven percent, two points behind average. Crop maturity remains slightly behind the five year average with 57 percent of the cotton bolls opening. The condition of the crop held steady with the previous week with 52 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition.

Nationally, winter wheat planting was 19 percent complete. That's slightly behind the five year average of 20%. Planting progress was recorded in 16 of the top 18 wheat producing states in the nation.

Click here for the full national crop progress report.

As farmers waited for moisture to begin planting their 2016 winter wheat crop- corn and sorghum harvest moved along in  Oklahoma. Winter wheat planted reached six percent, down ten points from normal. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 40 percent of the corn has been harvested. That's an increase of 30 points in one week, but progress remains 14 points behind the five year average. Sorghum was 26 percent harvested, seven points ahead of average. Sorghum mature reached 52 percent, that's six points ahead of average. Peanuts mature reached 35 percent. Cotton bolls opening reached 31 percent, down 26 points from normal. Planting preparations for canola, oats, rye and winter wheat continued.  Click here for the full Oklahoma report.


Harvest was in full swing in Texas, as wheat seeding continued to progress. The latest crop progress report has corn and sorghum 61 percent harvested. Corn harvest was three points behind average. Sorghum harvest was in-line with the five year average. Soybean harvest has reached 42 percent complete, 16 points behind average. Peanut harvest was progressing with 15 percent of the crop harvested, 12 points ahead of normal. Cotton harvest was running on track with average with 13 percent of the crop harvested. Winter wheat seeding reached 18 percent, two points behind the five-year average. Click here for the full Texas report.


Warm, mostly dry conditions aided harvest and wheat planting in Kansas. Corn harvest has reached 27 percent, ahead of last year, but behind the average of 35. Sorghum harvest was eight percent complete, ahead of last year and average. Cotton harvest was two percent complete. Soybean harvest has just gotten started with one percent of the crop in the bin. Winter wheat was 11 percent planted, slightly behind last year and average. Click here for the full Kansas report.

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 on what last Friday's Cattle on Feed report is telling us about the heavy weight cattle "predicament."

"The September Cattle on Feed report showed August placements at 95 percent of last year and the lowest August placement level in the current cattle on feed data series back to 1996. The placement total was below pre-report estimates and may provide a bit of short-term boost to markets. However, lower placements are not providing much help for fed cattle markets. Feedlot placements the past six months are down 3.5 percent, some 349,000 head less than the same March through August period one year ago. Despite this, the September 1, 2015 on-feed inventory is up 2.7 percent; 267,000 head more than September 1, 2014. Although this monthly on-feed total was less than expected, the large inventory is increasingly a drag on fed cattle markets. What has been a "situation" for several months is rapidly turning into a "predicament".


It has been a challenging year for cattle feeders and feedlots have struggled continuously with lousy margins. The feedlot response to adverse market conditions has been to slow down feedlot turnover, adding days on feed and increasing fed cattle weights. This has resulted not only in growing feedlot inventories but a growing supply of extremely heavy cattle. Steer carcass weights for the year to date into early September were averaging 19 pounds heavier than last year. By the last week of August, average steer carcass weights were at 906 pounds, equal to the record weights last November. One week later, moving into September, steer carcass weights jumped to 914 pounds, a new record and up 25 pounds year over year on a weekly basis."

Click here to read more from Dr. Peel about fed cattle prices and market signals.

The Senate approved H.R. 2051 on Monday- passing the legislation by unanimous consent. The bipartisan legislation, which reauthorizes Mandatory Price Reporting (MPR), the National Forest Foundation Act and the U.S. Grain Standards Act (USGSA), was favorably reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee Thursday, Sept. 17.


H.R. 2051 reauthorizes MPR for livestock through 2020. MPR requires meat packers to report to USDA the prices they pay for cattle, hogs, and sheep purchased from farmers and ranchers for slaughter, as well as the prices they receive for the sale of wholesale beef, pork, and lamb. MPR requires USDA to issue daily, weekly, and monthly reports that detail the various transactions occurring in livestock and meat markets. This information provides producers and entities in the livestock industry a more transparent view of market conditions, allowing them to make informed decisions when negotiating the sale of their livestock.

According to Agri-Pulse- The National Pork Producers Council wanted lawmakers to use the bill to declare the price reporting system an emergency service. That would ensure that the Agriculture Department would continue issuing the reports during a government shutdown, but Senate Democrats wouldn't agree to the provision.

Besides MPR- the package also reauthorizes the Grand Standards Act and the Forest Foundation- details on those provisions are available here.

Agricultural interests hope the House will accept the Senate measure before the end of this month.

Move over margarine, butter is taking center stage at McDonald's. The announcement comes from a strategic partnership with McDonald's and years of research funded by dairy farmers through the dairy checkoff. This lead to the nation's largest fast-food chain's decision to convert from margarine to butter. All 14,000 McDonald's Restaurants in the United States are making the change in replacing liquid margarine with real butter. The move means more than 20 national menu items at McDonald's will soon be made with butter. The move by McDonald's exemplifies the success of a long-term investment by dairymen and the 25 years of research on dairy fat, said Dairy Management Inc., CEO Tom Gallagher. He said this change is due in large part to the work of dairy checkoff scientists and other experts working directly on-site with McDonald's.


"It's a specialty and if we don't have the people on site we're not going to be top of mind," Gallagher said. "So, that's been a relationship that has given the farmers and the industry an enormous amount of incremental sales."


McDonald's was one of the checkoff's first partners and the relationship has grown to where checkoff employees are housed at McDonald's headquarters to help develop, test, position and market new dairy-friendly items. The company's switch to butter is conservatively estimated to increase its dairy use an equivalent of 500 million to 600 million pounds of milk a year, an amount equal to total U.S. butter exports in 2014, Gallagher said. The change-over to butter at McDonald's will serve as a catalyst for others watching what this industry leader does.  Click here to read more about the rollout of butter at McDonald's.

Last week, Texas lawmaker Randy Neugebauer announced he would not seek another term as the Congressman from the South Plains of Texas- District 19. Neugebauer does not have a farm/ranch background- but as he replaced Larry Combest- the former Chair of the House Ag Committee in 2003- he took a seat on the Ag Committee and was a quick study in learning the ins and outs of farm and food policy.  He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the House Ag Committee.

The current Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Mike Conaway, offered this regarding the Neugebauer announcement: "Randy has been an outstanding voice for West Texas and a great conservative leader on Capitol Hill. It has been a pleasure working alongside him both on the Agriculture Committee and in our neighboring districts in Texas. Among many other accomplishments, he was instrumental in developing the 2014 farm bill and has provided invaluable wisdom and insight as Vice Chairman of the committee. Randy is man of integrity, faith, and courage, and he will be missed by his colleagues. I wish him and his wife Dana the best in their next adventure."

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At the beginning of September, the American Farm Bureau released a set of maps that show the potential impact of WOTUS on four states- including Oklahoma- this after releasing similar maps earlier in the summer for four initial states. The research from AFBF suggested that over 90% of the land in each of those states could be subject to EPA and Army Corps oversight because of the Clean Water Rule that is now being implemented in 37 states by the Federal Government.

Our own Leslie Smith followed up in recent days with AFBF's Veronica Nigh on the maps- and was told that "For the eight states we've mapped, 97 percent of the acres in those states are within 4,000 feet of a Water of the United States and thus subject to EPA jurisdiction." Nigh says 95% of Oklahoma might be subject to WOTUS.

You can listen to the conversation that Leslie had with Nigh by clicking here.  Three Oklahoma locations were spotlighted by AFBF with their maps released in early September- rural areas in Beaver, Carter and Payne Counties. (you will need PowerPoint to view the maps at the link above)

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It's hard to think about an event coming up in January here in the middle of September- but if you make your plans ahead- you can save some serious money for registration at the 20th Anniversary of the No Till on the Plains Conference planned for January 26-27 in Salina, Kansas. The organizers of the event tells us that you'll save $150 by registering before October first- click here for their website where you can check out all the details.