Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus offered his commentary on the latest Drought Monitor report released Thursday morning and according to it, nearly 40 percent of the state has been plunged back into drought conditions.

Near 73 percent of the state is also experiencing "abnormally dry" conditions and McManus expects conditions to continue to deteriorate, with no significant precipitation forecasted for the near future.

The eastern and northwestern parts of Oklahoma have been hit the most severe currently with drought. The USDA rates 75 percent of Oklahoma's topsoil to be either short or very short of moisture, the worst two categories.

This week on SUNUP - OSU Extension Grain Market Economist Dr. Kim Anderson reports that the price of wheat has again turned lower since his appearance on last week's episode. In fact, both corn and wheat have set new contract lows.


Wheat had support at $4.30, but has worked its way down to $4.25. Anderson had previously warned that breaking its support line at $4.30 would open up the potentiality of dropping by as much as $0.20 before it hit another support level. But currently, he says it has come off that some and is just treading water for the moment. Nonetheless, Anderson admits he is a bit nervous about the future.


Still, the general consensus is that both commodities, corn and wheat, are at or near their bottom. Rather than just a seasonal reaction of some sort, Anderson believes the current movement being seen is all relevant to the overall trend in the markets.


Anderson says traders have mostly been selling into this market, rather than buying. The main thing right now, he insists though, is for profitability to return, the commodities must clear the market some first. And then, he says any chance of seeing a price increase will depend on the quality of product farmers deliver at harvest. He repeats again his message that given high test weight and protein levels, prices will indeed go up by $0.75 to a $1.00 more.


You can watch his visit tomorrow or Sunday on SUNUP - or you can hear Kim's comments right now and see what else is on the line-up for this week's episode, by clicking here.

During the recent American Angus Association Convention, Dr. David Patterson, extension beef specialist and animal science professor at the University of Missouri spoke with producers about a replacement heifer program offered in Missouri. Beef producers there have been participating in the Show Me Select Replacement Female program for 20 years now, to improve production efficiency in their heifers, through the use of existing technology, coupled with a marketing component. He explained to me how the program works and how producers have continued to benefit from enrolling their heifers in it.


"Essentially, the idea is to focus heifers that are enrolled in the program on all the means of evaluating methods of heifer development to ensure that those heifers conceive early during their first breeding season and hopefully go on to really perform well as cows in production," Patterson said. "One thing that's important to heifer development is age of puberty."


According to Patterson, there is a wide range or diversity in the age of puberty among the different breeds or biological types of cattle. He says that consideration must be taken into account, relative to these types of development programs. He says that producers interested in enrolling their cattle in such a program must take several steps. First, he says, herd health protocols must be established on your operation to ensure long-term reproductive health. Second, focus on nutritional development to allow cattle to meet their full genetic potential. Then, a pre-breeding evaluation is conducted four to six weeks prior to the heifer's first breeding season.


"That includes weight of the heifer, a reproductive tract score (an assessment of pubertal status) and a pelvic examine. This helps producers understand perhaps how good a job they've done developing their heifers, or in some cases, how some things may have slipped through the cracks," he said. "Any producer can use the steps we utilize in our program."


Listen to Patterson and I discuss this program in detail and how you can start your own version, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

Coming TOMORROW- it's the 36th Annual Oklahoma SELECT Bull Sale and Super Bull Competition.

The sale is set for 12 Noon at the Atoka Livestock Auction in Atoka, Oklahoma.

There will be 100 Breeding Age Bulls- Limousin and Lim-Flex to be offered.

Complete performance data available in catalog on all bulls. BW, WW, YW and EPDs for 13 economically important traits. All bulls are fertility tested and trich tested. Many bulls will have ultrasound carcass.