Senator James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following statement today after voting to stand against the Biden Administration’s Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule. The Senate voted on a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval of the rule, which passed in a vote of 53 to 43.



“Oklahomans want clean, safe water. But President Biden’s new Waters of the United States rule is not about clean water; it’s all about federal control of almost every inch of Oklahoma so farmers, ranchers, and developers will have to play ‘Mother, May I?’ for months or years with Washington, DC, before they can operate on their own land. We can protect our water without giving near total control of our land to the Washington bureaucracy. This is absurd climate extremism and centralized control of private property. The Senate today affirmed this needs to stop.” 

Background

In 2015, the Obama Administration finalized a rule that expanded the definition of WOTUS, creating confusion and burdensome red tape, especially for Oklahoma’s agriculture, construction, and energy industries. The Trump Administration released a proposed rule, the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), to replace the 2015 WOTUS rule with a new one that provided much-needed predictability and certainty for farmers by establishing clear and reasonable definitions of what qualifies as a “Waters of the United States.” The NWPR was finalized in 2020.



Midwest Farm Shows is proud to produce the two best Farm Shows in the State of Oklahoma annually- the Tulsa Farm Show each December and the Oklahoma City Farm Show each April. 

Up next will be the Oklahoma City’s premier spring agricultural and ranching event with returns to the State Fair Park April 13-14-15, 2023.

Now is the ideal time to contact the Midwest Farm Show Office at 507-437-7969 and book space at the 2023 Oklahoma City Farm Show.  To learn more about the Oklahoma City Farm Show, click here. 

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am back visiting with beef advocate and sixth-generation cattle rancher from Throckmorton, Texas, Tucker Brown, about how he advocates for the beef industry by educating and entertaining consumers.

Brown is active in his family’s operation, the R.A. Brown Ranch, and is on the Leadership Development Committee at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Because of his great advocacy work throughout 2022, Brown was recognized by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as Advocate of the Year.

Brown said he likes to keep his content lighthearted by utilizing a comedy strategy.

“My hope is that when they watch the video, they enjoy it, so it kind of builds a trust factor to my page or my face,” Brown said.

After each video, Brown said the goal is to teach someone something new.

“My hope is that it brings them to pages like NCBA’s or the Beef Checkoff’s page where it shows recipes, where it shows beef facts, where it shows how to cook the beef they are buying and that it is safe and that we are doing our best job to do that,” Brown said.

Lucas Questions Financial Regulators on SVB Collapse

Today, Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) joined his colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing on “The Federal Regulators’ Response to Recent Bank Failures”.

Lucas questioned the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. By guaranteeing uninsured deposits at both banks, the FDIC will place a special assessment on the banking sector to cover the losses.

Congressman Lucas pressed FDIC Chairman Gruenberg to ensure that the burden does not fall on community banks.

Lucas also questioned Federal Reserve Vice Chair Barr about the specific timeline of determining the systemic risk designation for both banks. It is imperative that Congress have insight into the sequence of events and criteria used for this designation.

Weekly, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Nutrition Specialist Paul Beck offers his expertise on the beef cattle industry. This is a part of the weekly series known as the “Cow-Calf Corner.” Today, he talks about factors impacting calf prices.

There are some management and health programs that consistently increase sale price of beef calves. An analysis of calf sales through the Superior Livestock Auction by Kansas State University and Merck Animal Health looked at traits of load lots of calves that had impacted sales price. This analysis included 15,287 lots with over 2.5 million calves. The average lot contained 168 head and weighed an average of 559 pounds. The base average price was $1.81/pound.

As you may suspect, calf sex had a large impact on sale price. Steers brought premiums of $19.26/cwt over the base price and mixed lots of steers and heifers brought $4.90/cwt over the base. There were no bull calves in this analysis, intact bull calves are known to receive discounts of $5 to 7/cwt compared to steers with discounts often reaching over $20/cwt for intact bull calves. The presence of horns leads to an average discount of $3.57/cwt or about $20/head. Survey data of cow-calf producers in Oklahoma (Mulenga, Raper, and Peel; 2021) indicated that 71% of producers castrate their calves and 77% practice some form of horn management.

FAPC to host an artisan and grain workshop on May 17

Renee Albers-Nelson, baking and milling specialist with the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center at Oklahoma State University, is set to host All You Knead to Know, an artisan and grain workshop, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 17 at FAPC.

Anyone from a chef to a farmer, as well as bakers in small and large bakeries, will find interest in this specialized workshop just for the baking industry.

“It’s a mystery to a lot of people how to bake a loaf of bread at home,” Albers-Nelson said. “But, baking is an art and it’s important to understand the history of wheat flour.”

This hands-on workshop will allow participants to hear from guest speakers including Mike Schulte, Oklahoma Wheat Commission executive director; Gary Lowrance, retired director of product development and quality control with Shawnee Milling Company; and Bailey Norwood, OSU agricultural economics professor.

Andrea Graves, business planning and marketing specialist, said participants will gain knowledge about OSU’s Wheat Breeding Program, wheat flour milling and the variety of flavors in bread.

CAB Insider: Seasonal Quality Grade Highs Likely Already Posted

In early March, the fed cattle market topped out at just over $165/cwt. before pulling back to an average around $164/cwt., where prices have become stagnant for a few weeks. Live cattle contract prices on the CME have been unsettled, to put it mildly. It is likely that the unrest surrounding financial institutions, coupled with resulting equity market volatility, generated concerns about consumer beef demand.

The April Live Cattle contract topped at $166/cwt. on March 7 then rapidly fell to $161.50/cwt. on March 15. Another week’s worth of trading saw the contract bounce up and down in a range around $162/cwt., a discount to the spot cash cattle market. A strong recovery beginning last Friday has brought the April contract up to $165/cwt., now over $1/cwt. premium to last week’s cash trade and certainly more reflective of the cattle supply tightening moving into the spring.



The direction of the fed cattle market is also reflective of carcass cutout values this March. The CAB cutout touched the year-to-date high of $295/cwt. at the first of the month and has lost only a few dollars through last week’s average quote of $292/cwt. The Choice cutout also saw a short term high of $282/cwt. at the beginning of March but has dropped a bit more than the CAB value, giving up $6/cwt. to average almost $277/cwt. last week.

The cutout price direction in March has been softer during the past two weeks than the same period in 2021 and 2022. However, the general March trend this year, as well as the past two, can be described as a pullback prior to when spring beef buying demand kicks in. April demand is yet to be unveiled but protein buyers should be taking advantage of the recent dip in price on certain beef cuts, especially those popular for grilling.

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