The 2023 Oklahoma Youth Expo is headed to the finish line as the Sale of Champions will happen this afternoon at 4 PM in the Norick Arena at the OKC Fairgrounds- CLICK HERE for details and sale order.

Let's talk Grand Drive from last night- the Grand Champion Market Steer that will lead off the sale later today was the Champion Crossbred- owned by Finley Yockam of Sapulpa 4-H.(picture above)

The Reserve Grand Champion Steer was the Chianina Champ- shown by Colby Kokojan of the Drummond FFA.

Click here for more details about Grand Steer drive.

As for the market barrows- the Grand Champion Market Barrow for 2023 is owned by Brigham Bunt of Ringwood 4-H- his Champion Hamp was the best barrow of the 2,200 that were shown this week in Barn 6. (Brigham and his winning barrow are pictured below)

Reserve Grand Champion was the Champion Dark Cross- shown by Anna Franke of Covington 4-H.

Click here for more details about the Grand Barrow drive at thie 2023 OYE.

Details about the best in show for the Market Lambs and Market Goats are further down in today's email.

Our coverage of all the young people involved at the OYE is powered by Hilliary Communications.



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.



Oklahoma is going on week four now of no change in the exceptional drought and extreme drought or worse categories. Exceptional drought remains at 8.86 percent, and extreme drought or worse remains at 36.64 percent.

Severe drought or worse is virtually unchanged but increased slightly from last week’s 51.53 percent to this week’s 50.58 percent.

Moderate drought or worse has not changed much this week, as it has moved from last week’s 59.92 to this week’s 59.07.

Abnormally dry or worse conditions have not made much movement this week but have improved from last week’s 67.07 percent to the week’s 65.61 percent.

According to the 6–10-day precipitation outlook map, most of the state has a near-normal probability of precipitation through March 25. The panhandle region is leaning above a 33-40 percent chance of precipitation, with the far west corner of the panhandle leaning above a 40-50 percent chance.

Click the Oklahoma Drought Map above the story to see this week's Oklahoma drought numbers.

NCBA’s Shalene McNeill Believes Beef Can Fill the Gaps in Dietary Shortfalls for Americans

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am visiting with the Executive Director of Nutrition Research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Dr. Shalene McNeill, and talking about advocating for beef in the dietary guidelines for 2025.

“Every five years, this process starts over, and it starts with a group of scientists that are nominated and convened to evaluate the research available at the time, to look at the issues that are facing America with regards to nutrition at the time, and then those scientists write a scientific report that is used to inform what becomes our dietary guidelines for Americans,” McNeill said.

20 scientists will serve on the dietary guidelines committee, McNeill said, and those selected come from diverse backgrounds with experience in food security, hunger, and more.

“Many Americans maybe fall short on getting adequate nutrition and so that might be more of a focus than it has in the past, and I think that will be a great opportunity for beef farmers and ranchers, because beef can help deliver those key nutrients that we need,” McNeill said. “If you have got a shortage of nutrients, you need high nutrient-dense foods like beef to help fill those gaps.”

There is a lot of conversation going around relating to increasing access to affordable food for all people, McNeill said, and the term “food dignity” is part of that discussion.

Each year at the Oklahoma Youth Expo, legislators have the opportunity to be paired with a showman and compete with other legislator/exhibitor pairs for the top showman. This opportunity allows legislators to connect with the future of the agriculture industry and be part of the Oklahoma Youth Expo experience.

Following the Legislative Showmanship Competition at OYE, Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to visit with State Representative and Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Dell Kerbs, about the OYE and legislative session.

“OYE is one of the biggest events for us,” Kerbs said. “We look forward to it every year. We have competitions between the House and the Senate on raising funds for the sale that comes at the end of the week.”

The best part of the event, Kerbs said, is having the chance to learn from the exhibitors.

“You can’t put a price tag on that, because that is our future, and they are teaching us, and they are ready,” Kerbs said.

Kerbs complimented the exhibitors at the show and said having FFA or 4-H on a resume is a valuable asset because it shows that those individuals know how to work hard.

Let's continue to spotlight the Grand Champions in the market animal divisions at the 2023 Oklahoma Youth Expo- next- the Grand Champion Market Lamb.

Connor Anthony of the Bethel FFA saw the judge select his Champion Hampshire lamb as the Grand Champion for 2023.(Connor is pictured above)

The Reserve Grand Champion Lamb was shown by the owner of last year's Grand Lamb- Sayde Allen of Canute 4-H with her Crossbred.

And hey- there is something in the water in Canute- five of the nine market lamb breed Champs were from Canute 4-H and/or Canute FFA.

Click here for the full story on the Market Lamb Grand Drive from last night's celebration.

And finally- your 2023 Grand Champion Market Goat was shown by Cara Cummins of Hollis FFA. Her goat got to the Grand Drive by being the Champ in Division Four of the Market Goats(Cara is pictured below)

Your Reserve Grand Champion Market Goat was also from Division Four- Dakota Thurmond from Synder.

Click here for the full story from the Market Goat Grand Drive.

AND- we have loads of pictures from the Grand Drive of last night- as well as the Scholarship Awards that were handed out ahead of the Grand Drive- all in our 2023 Flickr OYE Album- click here to check them out!

Six Lessons I Learned When Setting Up Temporary Fences

Devlon Ford, ag consultant for Noble Research Institute, shares how he’s applied regenerative practices at home.

Like many Noble Research Institute employees, my wife and I have a small agricultural operation of our own. We began our regenerative journey in 2021 by starting to use rotational grazing on 10 acres of our property.

After weaning our calves, we decided to background them on the 10 acres. We began using temporary polywire fence to create paddocks that ranged between 0.3 and 0.6 acres, based on forage availability.



The paddocks were set up for a three-day graze period, since we live about 30 miles away. The water source was a pond at the center of one end of the 10 acres, so we made a water access trap around the pond in order to water the calves. We didn’t want to invest a lot of money upfront in fencing, so we cut some corners.