Oklahoma's Latest Farm
And Ranch News
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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
- Oklahoma Drought Monitor Sees Minimal Increase in Two Drought Categories
- AFBF/NCBA/NPPC File Legal Challenge to New WOTUS Rule
- Taking time for Animal Husbandry Practices Can Increase Return on Investment in the Cow Herd
- Members of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Announced
- John Deere and Nutrien Ag Solutions Announce Release of Advanced Digital Connectivity
- Biodiversity And Productivity Has Grown In Modern U.S. Wheat Varieties
- Lesser Prairie Chicken Rule Pressures Fragile Rural Economies
- More Stories for Your Weekend Reading
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Oklahoma Drought Monitor Sees Minimal Increase in Two Drought Categories |
Not much change this week in the drought monitor report, and according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, warmer temperatures and below-normal precipitation can be expected through April. There is a chance for some snow in the Oklahoma panhandle this weekend, and northwest Oklahoma may see some precipitation (rain/snow mix) on Saturday.
Exceptional drought is unchanged from last week’s 11.77 percent.
Extreme drought or worse has increased only slightly from last week, as it moved from 57.21 percent to 57.90 percent over the past week.
Severe drought or worse remains at 81.01 percent.
Moderately dry or worse also remains unchanged at 89.12 percent.
Abnormally dry or worse conditions see a slight change, with an increase from 97.46 percent to 97.96 percent.
According to the 6–10-day precipitation outlook map, the majority of the state is leaning above a 33-40 percent chance of precipitation through January 28th. The far southeast corner of the state is leaning above a 40-50 percent chance of precipitation.
To view this week's drought numbers for Oklahoma, click the Oklahoma drought map above the story.
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The Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program knows this is a hard time for farmers and ranchers. We want you to know we are still open, and we are still here for you. The Ag Mediation program is a free service that provides mediation to agriculture producers who may need help with ag-related disputes.
At Oklahoma Ag Mediation, we have been helping people in agriculture resolve conflicts since 1987. We know firsthand about working together to resolve conflicts, so you don’t have to go through the court systems. Let our professional mediators help you. Mediation is allowed for lease issues, farmer/neighbor disputes, family farm transitions, and more. These services are available at no cost for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in all 77 counties. For more information, you can go to ok.gov/mediation, or give us a call at 800 248 5465.
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AFBF/NCBA/NPPC File Legal Challenge to New WOTUS Rule |
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented today on AFBF’s legal challenge to the new Waters of the United States rule. AFBF joined 17 other organizations representing agriculture, infrastructure and housing, as well as county and state Farm Bureaus in filing suit. (Others involved in the lawsuit include the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council)
“Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the resources we’re entrusted with. Clean water is important to all of us. Unfortunately, the new WOTUS rule once again gives the federal government sweeping authority over private lands. This isn’t what clean water regulations were intended to do. Farmers and ranchers should not have to hire a team of lawyers and consultants to determine how we can farm our land.
“The new rule is vague and creates uncertainty for America’s farmers, even if they’re miles from the nearest navigable water. We believe a judge will recognize these regulations exceed the scope of the Clean Water Act, and direct EPA to develop rules that enable farmers to protect natural resources while ensuring they can continue stocking America’s pantries.”
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Taking time for Animal Husbandry Practices Can Increase Return on Investment in the Cow Herd |
In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am back speaking with the operator of the Ashland Veterinary Center, Dr. Randall Spare about about mitigating stress in the beef cow herd.
In the wintertime, Spare said that sometimes a windbreak is not enough to keep cattle healthy. Taking the time to put down bedding or take other actions that will allow those animals to lay down and rest, he added, is critical to protecting that health status.
“I have a saying that what goes on in the rumen, we can see it in those feet as early as 90 days later,” Spare said. “When that animal goes through ruminal stresses, it shows up as what I call ‘hardship grooves.’ That is somewhat of a simplistic terminology, but I think it is a good idea to consider that.”
Spare said now is the time to redefine animal husbandry.
“We have the world looking at us, watching us how we are raising these beef cattle, and we need to go back and implement good animal husbandry in these ways and asking them to succeed and giving them every opportunity to succeed,” Spare said.
Cattle producers make many investments in their cow herd, Spare said, whether that is their nutrition program, health program, or through genetics. An important investment to be made, Spare said, is putting animal husbandry back into practice.
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For our farmers who have either- always have had cotton on their farms- or those who have more recently have added the fiber crop to their operations- we have a daily report heard on several of our Radio Stations- It's Called Cotton Talk!
Click on the Button below to listen to our most recent report
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Members of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Announced |
Scientific experts will review the body of evidence on key nutrition topics to help inform HHS-USDA’s development of next guidelines
The Committee will be tasked with reviewing the current body of science on key nutrition topics and developing a scientific report that includes its independent assessment of the evidence and recommendations for HHS and USDA as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Committee’s review, public comments, and input from other federal nutrition experts will help inform HHS and USDA as the Departments develop the 10th edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The Dietary Guidelines serve as the foundation for national nutrition programs, standards, and education. In addition, they provide health professionals with guidance and resources to assist the public in choosing an overall healthy diet that works for them.
“The recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health underscored the need to understand the science of nutrition and the role that social structures play when it comes to people eating healthy food,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “The advisory committee’s work will play an instrumental role in that effort, and in helping HHS and USDA improve the health and wellbeing of all Americans.”
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We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network weekdays-
if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click below for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays and KC Sheperd on RON.
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Sponsor Spotlight
National Livestock was founded in 1932 in Oklahoma City. National’s Marketing Division offers cattle for sale weekly at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. The Finance Division lends money to ranchers across several states for cattle production. The Grazing Division works with producers to place cattle for grazing on wheat or grass pastures.
National also owns and operates other livestock marketing subsidiaries including Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction in Ada, Oklahoma, OKC West Livestock Market in El Reno, Oklahoma, and the nation’s premier livestock video sale, Superior Livestock Auction. National offers customers many services custom made for today’s producer. To learn more, click here for the website or call the Oklahoma City office at 1-800-310-0220.
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John Deere and Nutrien Ag Solutions Announce Release of Advanced Digital Connectivity |
Nutrien Ag Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Nutrien Ltd., and John Deere jointly announced today the release of advanced digital connectivity between the John Deere Operations Center™ and Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Digital Hub. This connectivity enables both companies to better serve growers by optimizing logistics and enabling variable rate agronomic recommendations to be seamlessly transferred to their equipment for execution. In addition, the two companies announced a multi-year commitment to deepen the integration and jointly develop streamlined solutions so that growers can more easily benefit from precision ag technology.
This combination of optimized logistics and enablement of variable rate technology allows growers to realize improved agronomic outcomes. Growers control the access level to the data in their John Deere Operations Center account and can share access with Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Digital Hub where Nutrien Crop Consultants can create customized recommendations. Integration with Operations Center PRO’s logistics tools improves equipment dispatch efficiency and wireless work order transmission to the cab. This results in the right products, the right rate, at the right place, at the right time on grower fields.
“Nutrien Ag Solutions is committed to being the most grower-focused agronomic solutions provider, and this collaboration enhances that service by further transforming the way we support and digitally engage with our growers,” said David Elser, Senior Vice President of North America for Nutrien Ag Solutions. “The expertise John Deere brings in equipment, connectivity, and fleet management solutions allows our crop consultants to have improved access to data, and to provide better services to our growers via Nutrien Ag Solutions Digital Hub.”
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Biodiversity And Productivity Has Grown In Modern U.S. Wheat Varieties |
Agriculture is seen as both a key cause of the global biodiversity crisis and a principal means of addressing it. Though some advocates are calling for farmers to return to heirloom varieties of crops as a way for the agriculture industry to address the growing challenges posed by climate change, new research from the University of Minnesota suggests that the solution lies primarily in modern scientifically-bred crop varieties, which have led to an increase in biodiverse cropping practices and significantly higher wheat yields in the U.S.
In a paper recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University’s GEMS Informatics Center, Department of Applied Economics, and the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute assembled area data and the associated genetic pedigrees for the 1,353 commercial wheat varieties that made up most of the U.S. crop from 1919 to 2019. They factored in phylogenetic breadth when estimating both the spatial and temporal diversity of commercial wheat varieties found in fields, and tracked how that breadth changed over time across the country.
“Many perceive that science has led to cropping systems that are less biodiverse. We set out to see if that was indeed the case using newly developed, long-run data for a scientifically intensive cropping landscape,” said Philip Pardey, a professor in the Department of Applied Economics.
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Lesser Prairie Chicken Rule Pressures Fragile Rural Economies |
Over 18 months ago, on June 1, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to list the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. With the final rule released, implications of the listing on agriculture in the affected region are becoming more clear. Today’s Market Intel describes some of these possible implications, which could undermine years of voluntary conservation efforts by farmers and ranchers.
The lesser prairie chicken (LPC) is a medium-sized brown and white striped chicken-like grouse found in western Kansas, western Oklahoma, eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado and the Texas Panhandle. The birds inhabit shortgrass prairies and are well known for their lekking behavior in which males gather in small clearings called leks and inflate bright red air sacs in their neck and “dance.” The final rule distinguishes two populations of LPC known as distinct population segments (DPS). The Northern DPS inhabits the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado and will be listed as threatened while the Southern DPS, located in West Texas and New Mexico, will be listed as endangered.
The ESA prohibits the “take” of a species listed as endangered which, under the ESA, is defined as “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in such conduct.” The act also defines “harm” to include significant habitat modifications or degradation that “kill or injure wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns including breeding, spawning, rearing, migrating, feeding or sheltering.” This means many human, crop and livestock interactions with a listed species could be defined as harm if determined by USFWS to be disruptive to that species.
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More Stories for Your Weekend Reading |
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OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.
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Today's First Look:
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
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Wholesale Boxed Beef Prices were mixed- Choice Beef was down $2.57 and Select Beef was up $1.83 on Thursday 01/19/2023.
Click on the Button below for the latest report from USDA Market News
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Weekly Cattle Auction Reports
The buttons below allow you to check out the weekly Cattle Auctions in the region that we post on our website and here in our daily email update.
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Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's markets as analyzed by Justin Lewis of KIS futures - click below for the latest update on the Livestock and Grain Futures Trade..
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Okla Cash Grain:
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture- The report available after the close of the Futures Trade for that day.
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Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays, Senior Farm/Ranch Broadcaster and Editor
KC Sheperd, Farm Director and Editor
Dave Lanning, Markets and Production
Reagan Calk, Farm News and Email Editor
Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
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Rural Oklahoma is full of some of the greatest success stories throughout the entire state and is a big reason why Oklahoma is on track to become a top 10 state.
The Road to Rural Prosperity dives into these stories, bringing you stories covering rural life, agriculture, energy, healthcare, tourism, and politics affecting rural America.
The Road to Rural Prosperity is here to tell stories about rural America, for rural America.
Oklahoma Farm Report's Ron Hays talks regenerative agriculture and ranching with Jimmy Emmons. Jimmy is a long time resident of Leedey, OK. He is the third generation on the family farm in Dewey County. He and his wife Ginger have been farming and ranching together since 1980. They have a diverse 2000 acre cropping operation growing wheat, soybeans, sesame, sunflowers, irrigated dairy alfalfa hay, canola, grain sorghum and several cover crops for seed.
Jimmy has been monitoring soil health with soil testing since 2011 utilizing cover crops to enhance soil health.
Jimmy and Ginger also have a 250 cow/calf herd and take in yearling cattle for custom grazing on the nearly 6000 acres of native range. Ginger is the primary cattle manager in the operation. The Emmons’ utilize an adaptive multi-paddock grazing system on their range and forages grown on crop ground. They use the system to keep the native grasses and soils healthy, maximize biological diversity and optimize animal health.
As Jimmy Says- Long Live the Soil!
Search for Road to Rural Prosperity and subscribe on your favorite Podcast platform.
To hear this podcast, you can click here or tap below:
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program, Great Plains Kubota, Stillwater Milling Company, National Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma AgCredit, Union Mutual Insurance, the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association, 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!
We invite you to check out our website at the link below too that includes an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.
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God Bless!
Reach Out To Us:
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Tim West
President/General Manager
Rural Oklahoma Networks
405-317-6361
***************
Mike Henderson
Director of Sales
405-615-4922
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KC Sheperd
Farm Director
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
405-443-5717
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Ron Hays
Senior Farm/Ranch Broadcaster
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
405.473.6144
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