Oklahoma is the recipient of more than $134,000 in federal grant money awarded to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. The funds are part of nearly $200 million announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service that will benefit 22 states and seven tribes, as part of the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program. The grants will help communities, tribes, non-profit organizations, and state forestry agencies plan for and mitigate wildfire risks as the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis.

The city of Davis, OK will receive $134,477 to complete 9 projects on 1,500 acres as part of the Turner Falls Natural Wildland Restoration Project. The money will be used to reduce the threat of wildfire through the removal of ground and cedar fuel as well as the creation of firebreaks to enable firefighter access in areas with little to no current equipment access.

Oklahoma Forestry Services is the state’s lead wildland firefighting agency. For more information on these Federal monies coming our way- click here for the details.



Union Mutual was chartered in 1938 to write property and casualty insurance in the state of Oklahoma. Over the years, Union Mutual has maintained the attitude that started the company and continue to be that company that understands Oklahomans’ insurance needs when they contact any member of the UMIC team.

That’s 83 years of protecting rural Oklahomans, providing town and country, poultry house and legacy rural actual cash value policies.

With over 80 years of experience and 300 agents in all 77 Oklahoma Counties to serve you, it’s time to take a good hard look at Union Mutual Insurance Company.

For the agent nearest you, go to unionmutualic.com or give them a call at 405 286-7703.

Ahead of the Oklahoma Youth Expo’s grand drive last week, I caught up with the owner of Ag Youth Magazine, Larry Peck. We talked about the evolution of the Oklahoma City 4-H and FFA Junior Livestock Show from the 70s and 80s to the brief experiment of the Spring Fair to the establishment of the Oklahoma Youth Expo in the past two decades.

Peck first talked about how much the show industry has grown over the last decade. Peck has been coming to livestock shows in Oklahoma City since 1971, he added.

The Oklahoma Youth Expo has been able to flourish over the years, Peck said, thanks to great leadership, volunteer support, sponsors and more. Through making the youth a priority, Peck added, the show has come a long way.

At the first OYE, Peck said there were only three photographers for the championship drives. At the 2023 Grand Drive, Peck said the show had over 30 photographers ready to cover the event.

“It is just amazing where we have come from the old days of the spring fair, or the Oklahoma City fat livestock show,” Peck said.

One of those amazing developments had Peck playing "matchmaker" between the early group of Goat enthusiasts and the Expo- helping find the startup funding to add the fourth species to the OYE lineup.

After receiving a call from a friend asking how to have a goat show at OYE, Peck talked to a few people to see what needed to be done- he helped connect the players- and the result- a successful addition to the ten day world's largest junior livestock show.

OYE Coverage Correction

It's been brought to our attention that we needed to update one of the sponsor listings from the OYE Sale of Champions from last Friday.

We had listed a couple of buyers for the Grand Champion Market Barrow owned by Brigham Bunt of Ringwood 4-H. The barrow was bought for $30,000- and it was a single buyer- not a group that purchased Bunt's barrow. The buyer who bought the 2023 Grand Barrow is Westgate Market Developers.

Click here for our updated story on the 2023 Sale of Champions.

David Weaber Advises Ranchers to Capitalize on Quality Genetics When Herd Rebuilding Comes

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am visiting with senior animal protein research analyst at Terrain, David Weaber, about strategy for rebuilding the cow herd once the drought comes to an end.

Launched in November of 2022, Terrain is a source of agricultural industry analysis farmers and ranchers in the United States. Terrain was established by American AgCredit, Farm Credit Services of America and Frontier Farm Credit.

“We have been waiting a long time to get rid of La Niña, and it looks like she is finally maybe on her way out the door,” Weaber said. “That is great news for cow-calf producers that have been under this pressure from drought conditions for the last, some of them, three or four years.”

That loss of cattle, Weaber said, has been reflected in the cattle inventory report. Around 2.8 million beef cows have been subtracted from the herd, Weaber added, since 2019.

“We had record beef production in 2022, but that is because we have been pushing all these heifers off ranches and not retaining them, and they are showing up going through feed yards,” Weaber said. “We get a little bit of rain, and we are going to pull those out. They are going to go back to the beef cow herd.”

On this edition of Cow-Calf Corner, Bob LeValley, Oklahoma Beef Quality Assurance Coordinator, talks about Beef Quality Assurance principles.

Cattle producers have long recognized and fulfilled the need to properly care for livestock. Sound care and handling practices, based on years of experience and research are known to impact the well-being of cattle, individual animal health and herd productivity. Cattle are raised in very diverse environments and geographic locations. One specific set of production practices will not work for all cattle producers, but, personal experience, Beef Quality Assurance program principles, and professional judgement serve as valuable resources for proper animal handling and care. Animal behavior knowledge will facilitate proper animal handling to the benefit of both the handler and the livestock.

Knowledge of vision characteristics of cattle will help direct movement. Due to the location of their eyes, cattle have a wide-angle field of vision in excess of 300 degrees. This means they have a narrow blind spot which is directly behind them. They can see some colors and can distinguish between individuals/objects based on shape. Cattle have a tendency to move from dark areas to lighter areas, provided the light is not glaring. Shadows can often appear extreme to cattle. 

Southern Plains Perspective: Random Climate Smart Agriculture Thoughts and Stories

There is a new blog post out at the Southern Plains Perspective. Read Below!

This past week, the USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub had a booth at the 3I farm show in Dodge City, Kansas. I was there with my Daughter Madeleine manning the booth.

Because of this, I’m taking a little different approach to the blog this week and highlighting a few climate smart/soil health/conservation type articles that I have come across this week during breaks at the booth.

First, if you live in the southern plains (or follow this blog), you know how dry it has been in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. With dry weather, exposed soil, and high winds, you have the recipe for dust in the air. It’s important that producers understand what they can do to control erosion and hold their soil in place. This is the situation described in a news story from Lubbock, Texas, titled ‘West Texas farmers use cover crops, clodding to fight soil erosion.’ It’s a great piece about how good land treatment practices can help address this serious natural resource issue.

Chainsaw safety is vital during storm cleanup

If there’s one thing Oklahomans know about, it’s the process of cleaning up after a storm. Some of that cleanup will require the use of a chainsaw for felled trees and other debris.

Ryan Desantis, Oklahoma State University Extension forestry specialist, said it’s important to keep chainsaw safety techniques in mind when cleaning up after a storm or doing any other type of chainsaw work.

There are several types of chainsaws on the market, including gas-powered, electric and battery-powered.

“No matter what type of saw a person is operating, safety is important. A battery-powered saw is just as powerful as a gas-powered saw,” Desantis said. “One of the biggest safety concerns when operating a saw is kickback. The operator should wear a helmet with a visor to help protect their head. Also, position your body in a way that if kickback occurs, the saw won’t hit your body.”

Kickback occurs when the rotating chain hits a solid object or the chain is pinched in a cut. This can force the saw backward, resulting in serious injury. To prevent kickback, keep the saw moving at a fast speed when entering or leaving a cut. Also, keep the chain properly sharpened.

Rain in the Oklahoma Forecast- But Not Where It's Needed Most

The Tulsa National Weather Service graphic above shows where the rain is mostly likely to be later today- into tonight and early tomorrow- in in parts of eastern Oklahoma. Those counties that have the best rain forecast are the counties now mostly out of drought. Two to three inches of rain could fall in the tan and darker areas shown.

The parts of Oklahoma that continue to suffer from the on going drought have limited chances of rainfall from this latest rain making system headed toward Oklahoma- the graphic below from the Norman National Weather Service office shows most of the state from I-35 west will be left high and dry.