Cattlemen are getting the latest on the technology and tools available in the beef business at the fall Boot Camp that started Thursday morning with an all day session at the Oklahoma State University Purebred Cattle Center on Highway 51 just west of Stillwater. The event is being presented by the American Angus Association in partnership with OSU. The Cattlemen's Boot Camp continues through midday Friday.


Over 20 Cattlemen's Boot Camp events have been held around the country with funding from the Angus Foundation since 2005. As the Angus Foundation's resources have grown, it has addressed research and producer education. Milford Jenkins serves as President of the Angus Foundation. He formerly worked with the Oklahoma State University Foundation and is a past president of Oklahoma FFA- serving in 1983-84. Jenkins said the Cattlemen's Boot Camp features educational speakers and hands-on activities to help cattlemen improve their herd operations.


The Shattuck, Oklahoma native says it is a "wonderful educational opportunity for commercial producers and registered seedstock producers to continue to keep up to date on cutting-edge technology."


The Cattlemen's Boot Camp has brought in purebred and commercial cattle producers from eight states.

Today, the group will be meeting at the OSU Food and Ag Products Center on Campus- and will be hearing from OSU Meat Scientists, Certified Angus Beef Staffers and our friend Dr. Brad Morgan of Performance Foods.

It was really great to catch up with Milford at the Cattlemen's Boot Camp on Thursday. You can listen to our conversation- it's available here. 

SUNUP host Lyndall Stout interviews Anderson about the current price situation.  Click or tap here to listen to Kim's comments or to read the SUNUP show lineup.

For the sixth year in a row, the winner of the Borlaug CAST Communication Award was honored at a World Food Prize side event, and this year's recipient--Dr. Channapatna Prakash--gave a memorable keynote address: Everything I Know about GMOs, I Learned on Social Media.


Currently the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tuskegee University, Prakash was instrumental in establishing the prestigious plant biotechnology research and training program at the school, and he has a long list of influential publications and awards. He has presented his messages about agriculture in more than 70 countries.


Recipients of this annual award are science and/or agriculture experts who demonstrate an ability to communicate through written material, public presentations, and various forms of media. Prakash is known for his ability to deliver clear, science-based information to the public and policymakers alike. Colleagues point out that he can communicate with "every kind of audience, in every medium available."  Click here to read more about Dr. Prakash's presentation and the World Food Prize event.

Cimarron County has more than twice the land owned by the Commissioners of the Land Office than any other county in Oklahoma, participants noted in a legislative study released Tuesday.


A large portion of that approximately 225,000 acres provides funding for several of Oklahoma's higher education institutions, according to Secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office Harry Birdwell. There is a total of 236,000 acres in land owned by the state in Cimarron County, according to county officials.


State Rep. Casey Murdock said he requested the study to provide his colleagues with insight into how that land lowers the amount of ad valorem taxes available to Cimarron County and its school districts. There is also a significant negative impact on the local millage rate and bonding capacities of the school districts and county.


"For the cash-strapped school districts in that county, ad valorem tax revenues are a big deal," said Murdock, R-Felt. "The residents and county and school officials of Cimarron County would like to see some way for them to recover that lost money. After working with the Commissioners of Land Office, I think we have several ideas, but have not yet fully vetted them."  Click here to read more about the situation.

Agri-Pulse is reporting this morning that GOP Presidential contender Carly Fiorina believes that WOTUS needs to be rolled back- as she talked about rural issues last night on RFD-TV.

Collection of the $1 per head beef checkoff has been happening since the late 1980's. Half of that dollar stays in the state where the dollar is collected. The other half is sent on to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion Board. That funding is invested or allocated by the Beef Promotion Operating Committee. The 20 committee members are cattle producers from across the nation. Currently, three of those members are from Texas, three from Nebraska, two from Kansas and two from Oklahoma. One of those representing Oklahoma is cattle producer Clay Burtrum from the Stillwater area. He is in his second year on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee. Dairy producer Brett Morris of Ninekah currently serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and has a seat on the Operating Committee as well. Burtrum said every year the committee spends a lot of time looking at ideas on how to best spend the beef checkoff monies.


In setting out a plan for 2016, the committee met in Denver in September. The group of beef producers spent a full day listening to proposals that had gone through committee process at the Cattle Industry Summer Convention. Burtrum said cattle producers that serve on those committees reviewed and scored each proposal. He said a significant part of the beef checkoff funding goes toward interaction with today's consumer.


"Our audience has changed," Burtrum said. "We're in a millennial generation in the social media age. People aren't planning meals for a week now, they are planning a meal at 4:30 in the afternoon. So, we have to be in that social media environment, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and those areas right now. So we've really upped the campaign to a digital media platform."


For fiscal year 2016, the beef checkoff will spend $42 million, an uptick in spending of $3 million from last year.  Click here for our Beef Buzz that features Clay Burtrum as he talks tells us about his experiences on the Beef Promotion Operating Committee.

Drought continues to expand across the southern parts of Oklahoma- and according to State Climatologist Gary McManus, "Today's release of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the ugly truth. Nearly the entire southern 1/5th of the state is now in severe drought." You can see what McManus is referring to in the Graphic below-



More on Drought Conditions and a wee bit of rainfall overnight and this morning is spotlighted on our website- that's available here.

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Superior Livestock is ready to go this morning with their special Internet Auction of stocker and feeder cattle in a sale that will benefit the OSU Animal Science Scholarship Fund.  The Sale of cattle will be on their Superior Click to Bid site and will be originating from the OSU campus and the Conoco Phillips Alumni Center- starting at 9 AM this morning. 

Based on the numbers on the Click to Bid lineup- they have just over 2,000 cattle that will be on offer.

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Blackjack and Friends have their annual female production sale tomorrow- starting at 12:30 pm at the farm in Seminole.

Ranches that will be represented include Blackjack Farms LLC, McFerran Farms, Pfeiffer Angus Farms and Simpson Angus Ranch.

For details, contact Keith Grissom at 405-382-7678 or John Pfeiffer at 405-649-2425 or Charles Simpson at 405-21-6933 or Amber McFerran at 405-382-2945.