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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Story:

Oklahoma Wheat Commission Calls Wheat Harvest All But Done- Now 95% Complete 

 

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission is now calling the 2016 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest 95% complete, except for the Panhandle counties. According to the Commission's Director Mike Schulte, "Wheat harvest continues across the state with most producers and custom cutters wrapping up in all regions, with the exception of the Panhandle now being approximately 40 to 50 percent complete depending on location. 


"Producers are still struggling in parts of Southwest Oklahoma fighting the mud in lower lying areas, but even in those places it is figured that only 10 to 15 percent of the crop is left to harvest.   In some parts around Chattanooga and Walters, as well as in the Chickasha and Maysville area the crop in these lower lying areas most likely will never be harvested due to sprout damage. While some of the crop was completely lost due to floods in Southern Oklahoma, overall quality being reported throughout the state from South to North has been extremely favorable. Test weights and reported yields in all regions have been remarkable for the most part."

Here's Mike's comments on a couple of the areas with some harvest yet to complete:

Southwest OK 

In Southwest Oklahoma yields have been ranging from the mid 30's to the mid 50's with reports from the Walters and Chattanooga area up into Altus and Lone Wolf that harvest is progressing with only 10 percent left in these regions for the most part. Producers have still been fighting mud down by Grandfield. Abandonment in the lower lying areas of this region into Apache, Lawton and Maysville will also be a factor in bringing total bushel amounts down from Southwest Oklahoma. No reports or changes on test weights from this region since before the rains. Test weights in this region as of today reported to be 58 to 59 lbs./bu. (76.3-77.6 kg/hl), with a lot of the wheat that was harvested prior to the rains at 60 lbs./bu. (78.9 kg/hl).

Northwest & Panhandle 

In the Northwest and Panhandle regions of the state harvest has progressed around the Shattuck, May and Buffalo areas being reported to be 80 to 85% complete. Dryland wheat continues to be harvested in the Panhandle now for the past week, with many producers finishing up on the dry land harvesting around Hooker. It has been reported that one producer around Hooker started on a field of irrigated wheat but no yields were reported. For the most part irrigated wheat is not ready in the region and will be a few days off. Harvest around the Boise City region is just starting on the dry land wheat with no yields reported. Test weights in the Boise City region on dry land wheat is averaging 60 to 62 lbs./bu (78.9-81.5 kg/hl). Reports on dryland wheat in this region are ranging all over the board from the mid 30's to as high as the mid 60's. 

Click here to read about the areas of the state that are mostly done with harvest- and to see the community by community breakdown of harvest completion from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.

Part Two with NFU's Roger Johnson - TPP Doesn't Address Major Trade Concerns

 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership continues to rise to the top of the radar for several agricultural organizations, but not all are in favor. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says his organization has issues with TPP for several reasons, but one of the major concerns is the model used to develop the trade agreement.


"These trade agreements are largely setup to the multinationals move products more cheaply within their companies across international borders," he says. "The folks who end up losing on a deal like that are sort of the average, ordinary folks who are looking for a decent way of life."


The North Dakota farmer says there needs to be a different set of metrics to measure proposed trade agreements, including aiming for balanced trade.


"You can't always buy more than you sell," he says. "This deficit is $13-$14 trillion cumulatively; we gotta get a handle on that and TPP doesn't deal with that."


Johnson says the lack of prohibition or sanctions against currency manipulation is also a concern for NFU members. He says countries, particularly Asian countries like Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam - all part of TPP - buy up American dollars in order to make the value of their exports to the United States cheaper and U.S. exports more expensive.


"So what happens?" he says. "We export less, we buy more, our trade deficit increases.


I spoke with Johnson during his recent trip to Oklahoma. Click here to listen to our conversation about NFU's objections with TPP.

Congressman Lucas and Colleagues Call Out Gina McCarthy Over Glyphosate Debacle at EPA

 
Members of the House Science and Technology Committee, including Oklahoma Third District Congressman Frank Lucas, are upset over conflicting positions taken by the EPA on glyphosate with the apparent result that the US helped the International Agency develop a negative view of the chemical even as a domestic report gave the herbicide a clean bill of health.

Lucas questioned EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on the Cancer Assessment Review Committee's (CARC) report on glyphosate at Wednesday's House Science Committee hearing. This report - dated October 2015, marked final, and signed by all the authors - was posted online and then days later removed from the EPA website.

While McCarthy maintained that the report is not final - despite being marked otherwise - Lucas noted that "These are the type of things, Administrator, that causes such doubt and concern in the public and in Congress and in the entities that are affected. It's not good for anyone to do it this way." McCarthy told Congressman Lucas that a true "final" report will be out as "soon as possible, possibly this fall."

Compounding the problem, according to GOP lawmakers, is the involvement of the EPA in helping the International Agency for Research on Cancer write a report that targets the herbicide as potential cancer risk- directing contradicting the work of their own scientists. The IARC report is likely causing EU countries to rethink a renewal of the license for the herbicide, which could have profound impact on farming in the European Union.

We have more on this story on our website- click or tap here to check it out- including several links that you may be interested in.  Among the links- we have the October "final" report that EPA released and then pulled off of their website- showing glyphosate does not cause cancer.

Beef Industry On Track to Avoid Repeat of 2015 Market Crisis

 

When comparing the current cattle market to that of a year ago, Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center, says there are several year-over-year improvements, but the key factor is keeping the market current.


"We're really not setting up the industry as we started to do this time last year," he says. "We had very high feeder prices last year, and the incentive for cattle feeders was to hold the animals on feed because they really couldn't make money by bringing in animals."


Robb says recent marketing rates and slaughter weights are both indicators that cattle are moving through the marketing system at a more historical pace, compared to the slower movement of a year ago.


"We don't set ourselves up for the delayed marketing and then the snowball effect that we had last year in terms of the cattle market," he says. "I think we're setting a foundation for not being as dramatically negative as a year ago."


Although cattle prices are lower than this time last year, Robb says it's less likely the markets will unravel like in the fourth quarter of 2015.


"It does not look like '16 is a repeat of '15," he says. "I think that's important for producers to keep in the back of their mind."

 

Listen to Robb talk more about the cattle market outlook for the second half of 2016 during the latest Beef Buzz. 

 

Dairy Checkoff Releases New Episode of 'Acres and Avenues' Video Series

 

Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff, released a new episode of its "Acres and Avenues" video series Wednesday. Episode 4, titled "Dairy Family Legacy Puts Social Farmer to Work," pairs Florida dairy farmer Sutton Rucks and his daughter Lindsey Rucks with Flula Borg, a comedian/actor who has more than 750,000 YouTube followers. 


In the episode, Borg displays his quirky sense of humor in learning about the Rucks' work ethic and values required to operate a third-generation dairy. Lindsey Rucks matches wits with Borg in displaying her commitment to rearing calves and to her farm. 

Click here to watch  "Dairy Family Legacy Puts Social Farmer to Work" and find a link to other videos in the series.

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New Conservation Studies Show Benefits for Upper Mississippi River Basin

 

 

 

Read more about how conservation practices are positively affecting the upper Mississippi River watershed.

This N That- Fed Cattle Exchange Results, KGGF Reminder and Superior TallGrass Sale 

 

 

Yesterday, about two thousand cattle were sold on the  FedCattleExchange.Com electronic platform for finished cattle- coming from Nebraska, Kansas and Texas-Oklahoma. Prices were six to seven dollars lower than a week earlier- ranging from $115 to $116.75.

This is the fourth sale for the online marketplace- and the largest number of cattle to be sold to this point- the intent of the Exchange is to provide liquidity in the finished cattle market- something that is vital to helping establish a benchmark for the large number of cattle sold under formula trade.

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We are into our second week in our expanded farm and ranch news programming on KGGF Radio in Coffeyville, Kansas- and if you are anywhere in north central or northeastern Oklahoma- or southeastern Kansas- we invite you to check out our reports on KGGF- from 6:08 to 6:30 AM, 11:30 AM to Noon and 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM each weekday afternoon.

Markets, Farm and Ranch News and Interview Features are a part of our coverage on the station. 

And- remember- we are also heard on 45 other radio stations across Oklahoma and parts of the Texas Panhandle, northeastern New Mexico, Southwest Kansas and Southwestern Missouri on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network!

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Superior Livestock will be featuring their Tallgrass Yearling Auction tomorrow morning- starting at 8:00 AM central time.  The majority of the cattle consigned are from Kansas and Oklahoma- with over 15,500 cattle to be offered.

Click here for the catalog of the cattle being sold and click here for the Click to Bid Page for the sale.

You can call Superior for more information and to confirm the approximate time a particular lot may sell- that number is 1-800-422-2117.

The sale will be seen only on the Superior Click To Bid website.

Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment,  American Farmers & Ranchers, Stillwater Milling Company, Oklahoma AgCredit,  the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association, Pioneer Cellular, and  KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- at NO Charge!

 

 

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