Throughout Oklahoma, drier conditions have allowed harvesting to progress, and warmer temperatures allowed row crops to progress quickly.

Nationally, the concerns over the 2023 US Corn Crop remain as the crop ratings dropped another 2 points this week versus last- now at 61% Good to Excellent. That compares to the 72% at this point last year. A couple of big corn producing states are in the 40s on their good to excellent ratings- Illinois at 48% and Missouri at 47%. Iowa, meanwhile, seems fine as they report a 70% good to excellent rating.

OKLAHOMA:

Winter wheat harvested reached 28 percent, down 2 points from the previous year but up 2 points from normal. Winter wheat conditions rated 40 percent good to excellent, 35 fair and 25 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 36 percent good to excellent, 37 percent fair, and 26 percent poor to very poor. 

Corn planted reached 89 percent, unchanged from the previous year and unchanged from normal. . Corn conditions are rated 71 percent good to excellent, 26 percent fair and 3 percent poor to very poor.

Soybeans planted reached 54 percent, up 1 point from the previous year but down 3 points from normal. Soybean conditions rated 61 good to excellent, 37 percent fair and 2 percent poor to very poor.

Cotton planted reached 66 percent, up 5 points from the previous year and up 7 points from normal. Cotton conditions rated 97 percent good to excellent and 3 percent fair.

Pasture and range conditions rated 59 percent good to excellent, 29 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 53 percent good to excellent, 35 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor. 



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During the annual Livestock Marketing Association meeting, I talked with the vice president of government and industry affairs at the Livestock Marketing Association, Chelsea Good, about Livestock Mandatory Reporting and potential cattle industry fraud.

“I have a lot of faith in our partners in Congress, that they care about LMR just like we do,” Good said. “I would love a five-year extension- a full reauthorization. Thankfully it has not lapsed. It has taken rides under the appropriations bills.”

LMA has also been involved in the conversation with USDA on the McClain ghost cattle scheme.

Good calls this. “a really unfortunate situation. Brian McClain was doing business in a couple of different ways.”

Good said she believes that McClain was a livestock dealer but failed to register as such.

“It is frustrating that we have been told that USDA had requested that he register, and he refused to do so, and nothing happened with that,” Good said.

Good said that McClain was taking in investors and possibly offering them a rate of return that was not reasonable.

“It is really sad, but some of those investors started showing up, and it turns out there were way less cattle than there were investors,” Good said.

Enjoy the Rain because High Temps are Headed this Way

The Rain has been a much-needed blessing across the state, especially in areas without rain in months.

According to State Climatologist Gary McManus, Oklahomans should enjoy the rain because the Oklahoma heat is headed this way.

“Summer is coming, whether you’re ready for it or not," McManus said. "We see the tell-tale signs of an upper-level death ridge over the Southern Plains, with its sinking, compressing air and accompanying greatly increased odds of above normal temperatures.”

McManus said high temps are expected as we go through the week, and we may even see triple-digit temps hit the state by the weekend.

Oklahoma has seen some hot days, but we have not cracked triple digits yet. McManus said it ‘felt’ like one hundred, but we’ve only hit the high 90s so far across the state.

The six to 10-day forecast shows above normal temps for Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.

Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner” published electronically by Dr. Peel and Mark Johnson. Today, Dr. Peel talks about rebuilding the cow herd.

The story of what will happen in the beef cattle industry has been clear for some time. Drought- forced beef cow herd liquidation has made the beef industry smaller than it needs or planned to be. There will be strong market incentives to rebuild herd inventories when it is possible to do so. Recent improvement in remaining drought regions in the central and southern Great Plains likely means that herd liquidation is ending. Residual drought remains a risk and drought could redevelop but the arrival of El Niño likely means that additional drought impacts will be minimal. Nevertheless, the beef cow herd is almost surely decreasing in 2023 meaning that the January 1, 2024 level is expected to be the low from which the industry will rebuild. However, we can now think about the timeline going forward as cattle numbers stabilize and the industry transitions to herd expansion.

The first step to stabilizing the beef cow herd is the reduction of beef cow slaughter and a lower rate of cow culling. Following record beef herd culling in 2022, beef cow slaughter is down 11.5 percent so far in 2023, a sign that herd liquidation is slowing. However, I suspect that, until recently, the decrease in total beef cow slaughter was masking some continued liquidation in the drought areas of the plains. The current rate of beef cow slaughter, if it persisted for the entire year, would result in a herd culling rate of nearly 11 percent for the year…too large to indicate herd expansion. Beef cow slaughter is expected to decrease more sharply in the second half of the year. 

NPPC President Scott Hays Gives Update on Pressing Issues in the Pork Industry

At the World Pork Expo, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern Maci Carter had the chance to visit with the President of the National Pork Producers Council, Scott Hays. Hays talks to Carter about the 2023 Farm Bill, biosecurity, Proposition 12, WOTUS, and more.

“The Farm Bill is well underway, and I had the opportunity to go out a couple of weeks ago and testify on the Farm Bill and got to explain to Congress what is going on in the industry and talk about the need for prevention and preparedness when it comes to foreign animal disease,” Hays said. “We got a vaccine bank approved in the last Farm Bill five years ago, and we asked for continued funding of that.”

Hays said NPPC also talked to Congress about exports and a few funding mechanisms that deal with exports.

“We need that,” Hays said. “We have several free trade agreements in place that are very important to the pork industry, but there is maintenance to be done on those. We need to make sure that our partners are living up to the agreement.”

Drummond praises signing of laws to combat illegal marijuana operations 

Attorney General Gentner Drummond praised the governor and state Legislature today for approving a suite of legislation this year to help law enforcement crackdown on Oklahoma’s plethora of illegal marijuana grow operations. Gov. Stitt today signed the last of the marijuana-related bills.

“These measures are a much-needed tool to help law enforcement agencies combat the illegal marijuana operations across our state that are jeopardizing public safety and harming our communities,” Drummond said. “Shutting down these illegal operations is my top priority. I am thankful our lawmakers have provided more support to law enforcement officials that, in turn, will help us better protect all Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma has experienced a massive increase of marijuana farms since the legalization of medical marijuana in 2018.

While many grow businesses abide by the law, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBN) estimates that nearly half of the 6,299 grow operations in Oklahoma are illegal. These illegal grows are often operated by Mexican drug cartels and Chinese nationals whose illicit activities also include human trafficking, sex trafficking and the distribution of deadly drugs such as fentanyl. 

Bills recently signed into law include:

SB 212 by Sen. David Bullard and Rep. Justin Humphrey

This bill prohibits foreign ownership of land except for businesses engaging in interstate commerce. It takes effect Nov. 1.

HB 2095 by Rep. Echols and Sen. Paxton 

This legislation provides the Attorney General’s office, along with OBN and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, full enforcement authority over the medical marijuana laws of the state. It allows the Attorney General to subpoena business documents, conduct unannounced on-site inspections, seize and destroy illegal products and to enter memoranda of understanding with other law enforcement agencies to create a coordinated approach to eradicating illegal grow operations. It extends the moratorium on new grow licenses through 2026 to allow law enforcement additional time to shut down illegal grows. It takes effect Nov. 1.

American Simmental Association Continuously Increases Profitability with Sustainability

At the American Simmental Association STYLE (SimGenetics Training for Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs) Conference, Farm Director KC Sheperd talked with the Director of SimGenetic Development at the American Simmental Association, Luke Bowman, about the conference and the latest from the ASA.

“The American Simmental Association has done a really great job of growing our program, which is kids 21 and under,” Bowman said. “The folks that serve under our board of trustees generally are about 55 or older. We want to do a better job of creating the next generation of leaders, which are folks between 25 to 45. So, we have developed a conference built around leadership and connecting the segment of the industry in which we worked to help them get a better understanding of where they exist and why they exist.”

Bowman said the conference brought in individuals from all over, as people traveled from states such as Oregon, Alabama and more.

Bowman recently traveled to Australia to work with breeders and breed societies on understanding American genetics and how to increase trade.

“Simmental cattle are really evolving around the world, and Australia, outside of the U.S. and Canada, has about the most aggressive population of breeders there are,” Bowman said. “They are really interested in American genetics.”