In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am talking about Cattlemen’s Conference with the CEO of the American Angus Association, Mark McCully. The conference kicked off yesterday and will continue today at Oklahoma State University at the Totusek Arena.

McCully is one of the leading speakers at the conference and has been asked to answer the question, “Why this conference,” to help kick off the meeting. Cattlemen’s Conference, McCully said, is an important meeting based on previous meetings that took place decades ago and helped shape the U.S. beef cattle industry.



Those past conferences were instrumental in helping ranchers become more aligned in goals regarding consumer and production targets.

McCully quoted former head of the OSU Animal Science Department, Dr. Bob Totusek, from the 1988 conference when he told attendees 35 years ago the goal of that meeting was to separate "truth from the trend."

“In that era, our industry wasn’t quite as transparent, and we didn’t have much information flowing up and down the chain,” McCully said. “Those were really important for cattlemen to get centered on the targets.”

Today, McCully said the industry has not focused on this type of conference in quite a while.

As to why the industry was at Totusek Arena in 2023- he offered a couple of reasons:

"The truth is more important than the trend"

and

"Because the future is created by those that show up!"



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.

The Tulsa Farm Show is Oklahoma’s premier agricultural and ranching event- and returns to the SageNet Center (Expo Square) December, 7-8-9, 2023. 

Now is the ideal time to contact the Midwest Farm Show Office at 507-437-7969 and book space at the 2022 Tulsa Farm Show.  To learn more about the Tulsa Farm Show, click here. 



Farm Director, KC Sheperd, is visiting with BASF Senior Agronomist in Oklahoma and Texas, Rick Minzenmayer, about the 2022 cotton crop and this year’s cotton crop.

As cotton planting conditions were similar last year with a lot of wet soil, Minzenmayer talked about planting conditions for this year.

“In the southern part of my territory, we will plant up until the 20th of June,” Minzenmayer said.

Cotton plantings in Oklahoma and Texas are not behind schedule by any means, Minzenmayer said, but by the first of June, farmers will need to “get serious” about putting seed into the ground.

Last year, Minzenmayer said the biggest issue cotton producers faced was the drought. Many growers planted, Minzenmayer said, and the seed never came up.

“In some situations where it did come up, it was a real skippy stand, and basically, fortunately, we have crop insurance, and the adjusters just ‘disastered’ it out,” Minzenmayer said.

Legislative Session Update with Representative Ty Burns

Farm Director, KC Sheperd, talked a few days back with Representative Ty Burns about Oklahoma’s legislative session.

One program Burns is working on is the “Gold Star Bill,” which is aimed to provide college scholarship opportunities for kids who have lost a parent in war.

This year, the session has been exposed to the media more, Burns said, which created a few difficulties.

“There are so many falsehoods that come out, and it opens the door for pundits, if you will, just to come in and really put wrinkles in things, and so we are correcting people more than we are educating people, which always slows us down,” Burns said.

Burns said he was also working on a grant program for county roads allowing individuals to donate and receive a tax credit that unfortunately did not make it through.

At this year’s Cattlemen’s Conference, Blueprint for the Future, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter, had a chance to visit with Hugh Aljoe of the Noble Research Institute about land stewardship for improved soil health.

Regenerative ranching, Aljoe said, is land stewardship for improving soil health in grazing animal production with lasting producer profitability. Aljoe said regenerative ranching is simply trying to mimic nature and incorporate the sciences available today to improve the quality of soils and their health over time.

“Making it a reality, really begins with grazing management,” said Aljoe. “We need to be stocked lightly enough, or conservatively enough so that whenever we have those rotations, as we’re moving these cattle from pasture to pasture, every pasture is fully recovered. We want to maintain as much leaf area, so the plants continue to photosynthesize and maintain their root capacity. So, bring up moisture and nutrients so they can regrow rapidly. We want to make sure that we’re using these different pastures in different seasons of the year and don’t get in the same routine time and time again.”

Aljoe said he believes in starting with what you have to make these changes. He also added it is beneficial to start small and make little changes to provide the rest needed for your soil to recover and regrow using its own capabilities.

Biosecurity: Do You Have a Plan?

On today’s Cow-Calf Corner is Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, DVM, OSU State Extension Beef Cattle Veterinarian talking about biosecurity measures.

Biosecurity is a commonly used term in animal health circles. Simply stated biosecurity measures are those practices taken to prevent the introduction of disease into an animal population and spread of disease within an existing group.

Biosecurity focuses on both infectious and non-infectious concerns. Many farms and ranches may have incorporated biosecurity practices for decades, but not necessarily considered those practices under the umbrella of biosecurity. The foundation of good biosecurity is good animal husbandry.



Cattle producers, veterinarians, and animal health officials have long known the benefits of good biosecurity practices in relationship to overall health for individual animals as well as state and national herds. Food safety, profitability, marketability, business continuity, and consumer demands are all reasons to consider developing or reevaluating a herd’s biosecurity plan. Additionally, biosecurity is important for animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and judicious use of pharmaceuticals.



Cattle producers, veterinarian, and animal health officials have long utilized biosecurity plans in national efforts to eradicated diseases such as brucellosis and tuberculosis. Biosecurity plans can apply to national plans to prevent foreign animal and emerging diseases just as they apply to an operation with forty cows or even a youth show project. However, biosecurity plans are not one size-fits-all.

Senators Marshall, Welch Introduce ReConnect Rural America Act to Expand Broadband Access in Rural Communities

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. introduced the ReConnect Rural America Act with Sen. Welch (D-VT), bipartisan legislation that helps to champion rural communities’ access to high-speed broadband. This lack of accessibility to internet service leaves community members with less access to good-paying jobs, isolation from markets, and lack of health care provider technologies. 

“The importance of high-speed internet cannot be understated. Unfortunately, in many parts of the country, a quality internet connection is not accessible or affordable. Our rural hospitals, schools, farms, small businesses, and families deserve a reliable and speedy internet connection to meet their family’s needs and fulfill their job requirements,” Sen. Marshall said. “I am proud to lead this bipartisan legislation with Senator Welch that would ensure the more sparsely populated areas of the country are able to access the same internet connectivity as their urban counterparts. When it comes to broadband accessibility, we need to focus on solid infrastructure that is built to last and meets the connectivity demand across every region regardless of its size.”

“Rural communities across the country—whether in my home state of Vermont or Sen. Marshall’s beloved Kansas—have been left behind as our economy has become increasingly digital and better connected. That’s unacceptable. Support from ReConnect can change that and help our communities close the digital divide. I’m proud to introduce the ReConnecting Rural America Act with Sen. Marshall to reauthorize and strengthen this important program,” Sen. Welch said. 

Still Waiting on HB 2053

Ag groups have continued to make the ask to the Oklahoma Senate to provide a final approval to HB 2053. However, with just today and tomorrow left in the general session- we are not seeing this bill on today's agenda in the Oklahoma Senate.

From an earlier story that we did on House Bill 2053 here's some of the background:Oklahoma Farm Bureau's SteveThompson says that this measure, authored by David Hardin in the House and Brent Howard in the Senate, is all about water and water rights- and basically protects a farmer, rancher or landowner’s rights when they apply for a water permit for a legitimate purpose. It would stop opponents of production agriculture to simply protest because they don’t like agriculture- they can only protest if they have evidence that the permit would result in pollution or degradation of the water supply that overlies the property linked to the permit.

This measure has come from a fight between an Eastern Oklahoma poultry grower and activists that saw the grower lose his water permit and was forced out of business.

Thompson says that several Ag Groups at the Capitol believe that “If we don’t address this, it could really spread to any type of farm or ranch operation- it could serve as a playbook for environmental activists that just simply don’t like what we do in agriculture” but it does offer protections to the water supply when a genuine concern is raised about the supply or availability of ground water.

A final call to your Senator may be in order. Click here for the final work of the House that has been sent to the Senate for their consideration.

From Cattlemen's Conference- a Great Evening with the GreenHouse Guru- Dr. Frank Mitloehner

It was a great end of the day at the Wednesday evening dinner of the Cattlemen’s Conference- a Blueprint for the Future. The reason- a chance to talk with and hear Dr Frank Mitloehner of UC- Davis- the Greenhouse Guru! Frank talked cattle and the methane gas emission story of US Cattle- we will be posting his full remarks in the near future as a special podcast.

In addition- I talked with him exclusively earlier in the afternoon and will be posting as a Beef Buzz by the end of the week- we talked about what cattle producers need to be doing about the climate conversation and those who wish to throw cattle producers and their animals under the table- be watching for it!