USDA Says: Oklahoma Wheat Harvest Lags Year Ago and 5 Year Average at 40 Percent Complete

The weekly Crop Progress report was delayed a day this week due to a Federal holiday on Monday- and while we are focused in our part of the country on the hard red winter wheat harvest- which is lagging normal progress because of recent rains- a lot of farm country continues to worry about the major spring planted crops in the midwest- According to the latest numbers released on Tuesday- The nation's corn crop was rated 55% in good-to-excellent condition, down 6 percentage points from 61% the previous week. Soybeans were rated 54% in good-to-excellent condition, down 5 percentage points from 59% the previous week.

Two states are a really big concern- Illinois dropped a whopping 12 percentage points versus a week ago in their corn crop conditions- now at 36 percent good to excellent. Missouri is also dry and hurting with a 43% good to excellent corn crop rating- down 4 points from a week ago.

Here in Oklahoma-

Winter wheat harvested reached 40 percent, down 26 points from the previous year and down 14 points from normal.  

Corn planted reached 95 percent, unchanged from the previous year but up 1 point from normal. Corn conditions rated 72 percent good to excellent, 26 percent fair and 2 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 71 percent good to excellent, 26 percent fair and 3 percent poor to very poor.

Cotton planted reached 81 percent, up 5 points from the previous year and up 3 points from normal. Cotton conditions rated 82 percent good to excellent, 17 percent fair and 1 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 97 percent good to excellent and 3 percent fair.

Pasture and range conditions rated 59 percent good to excellent, 28 percent fair and 13 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 59 percent good to excellent, 29 percent fair and 12 percent poor to very poor.



Oklahoma Farm Bureau works to improve the lives of all Oklahomans by supporting our state’s agriculture community. As Oklahoma’s largest general farm organization led by Oklahoma farmers and ranchers, OKFB takes grassroots values and advocates for agriculture at the state Capitol and in Washington, D.C., to ensure our way of life continues for generations to come. Farm Bureau hosts leadership events, supports our state’s agricultural youth and connects consumers with agriculture in order to build a brighter future for our state. Become an OKFB member today online at okfarmbureau.org/join. Together, we are rural Oklahoma.



Farm Director KC Sheperd is talking with the Executive Director for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Foundation, Mariah Reimer, about upcoming events for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Foundation.

Reimer first talked about the Cattlemen’s Leadership Academy, as the online application process has opened up.

“It is just a terrific opportunity for like-minded individuals in agriculture, which an emphasis on cattle, of course, but it really gives you a big picture of our industry as a whole,” Reimer said. “You get four sessions, which are two days each session. You go across the state, you meet with businesses, you meet with leaders in our industry, and you just get to network.”

The OCA Cattlemen’s Leadership Academy (CLA) is targeted at beef producers ages 25 – 40. The program is designed to develop young members through industry exposure, education, and communication. 

“You get to make those connections and see where you can make a difference in our state as a whole, and especially with agriculture and the cattle industry,” Reimer said.

Each year 20 OCA member/beef producers are selected through an online application process to participate. There is a minimal cost to participate; meals and lodging are covered by CLA Sponsors.

Dive Into the Latest Cattle Markets with Katelyn McCullock

In this episode of Beef Buzz, we feature comments with the Director and Senior Agricultural Economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center, Katelyn McCullock. We talk about wholesale boxed beef trade, the cattle futures markets and more.

On Boxed Beef- “The cash side of things closed Friday, really strongly at $3.43 for Choice and $3.10 for Select,” McCullock said. “This has been an incredible market to watch as well. Just a week ago, we were closer to $3.32 on the Choice side.”

The underlying fundamentals of these prices, McCullock said, are largely supply driven.

“We have had this note of strong demand that has also pulled those cattle prices through and so we have got both sides of supply and demand getting cattle prices in the same direction right now,” McCullock said.

One thing that will be watched closely, McCullock said, is post 4th of July sales.

“I don’t expect it to be a large reset, but it wouldn’t be out of the question to see that price come down some,” McCullock said.

McCullock also talked about fed cattle prices and feeder cattle prices.

“We have a little bit lower prices on the fed side and on the feeder side, heading into summer,” McCullock said. “I think your feeder prices are going to be pretty sticky as long as it continues to rain. There is a little bit of worrisomeness, I guess with the dryness in the corn belt, but absent of that, feed cost outlook looks good.”

Eastern Oklahoma Cleanup Underway- Mike Spradling Offers a Glimpse

Cleanup continues after the storms of Saturday night into Sunday morning that caused lots of damage in and around Eastern Oklahoma. That includes farms and ranches.

Pecan Producer Mike Spradling had his share of damage to his pecan orchards- he writes in Facebook often about his pecan farming efforts- and the pic above is one of his Pecan trees lost to those 100 mile an hour winds that still have 100,000 customers without power in that region.

Mike writes "The mighty majestic pecan tree hits the dirt. People think of the pecan being a very strong and a hard wood species capable of withstand most any environmental event, and no doubt it is just that, strong and ridged. Those characteristics are its own worst enemy. Compared to the very flexible Willow tree the Pecan doesn’t stand a chance to surviving 100 mph winds for the two’s opposite characteristics.

"The Willow is a soft wood and being very flexible will give to the wind and bend almost to the ground before breaking. On the other hand, the pecan is very ridged and will break when forced to bend. Being tall and strong has its advantages until meeting head on with Mother Nature. We lost a number of trees at the orchard Saturday night into Sunday morning but other than that the orchard survived. Now like most Oklahoman’s, for us the cleanup begins."

Mark Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, offers herd health advice as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner” published electronically by Dr. Peel, Mark Johnson, and Paul Beck. Today, Johnson talks about the comparison and contrast between a sweep tub and a bud box.

In a cattle working facility, the function of the crowding area, often called a “tub” is to funnel cattle into alleyway on the way to the squeeze chute or loadout. The crowding area must be designed and located so cattle can be easily moved into this area from a common sorting alley that is fed by holding pens. There are two commonly used systems that offer differing advantages which we cover this week.

Sweep Tub:

The circular crowding area, with totally enclosed sides and crowding gate, is effective because the only escape route visible to the animal is through the alleyway leading to the squeeze chute or loadout. To further encourage cattle to exit crowding area, the solid crowding gate is intermittently moved toward a closed position. This effectively restricts the cattle to a successively smaller area as they move into the alleyway....

Andrew Bailey of NPPC talks Pressing Pork Issues Regarding Science and Health

At this year’s World Pork Expo, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern Maci Carter had a chance to visit with Andrew Bailey, the Science & Technology, Legal Counsel for the National Pork Producers Council. Bailey and Carter talked CRISPR, African Swine Fever, and Custom and Border Patrol.

“One issue we’ve been working on for several years is the idea of, how do you regulate gene editing of livestock,” Bailey said. “You know, with new gene editing tools, like CRISPR, you can make very precise edits in an animal’s genome that might take, you know, even decades to do through conventional breeding, but there’s just not really a clear regulatory pathway for that technology.”

Bailey said that a regulatory pathway is needed, and NPPC is advocating for the USDA to take hold of the matter. Being the agency with knowledge of the agricultural industry, Baily said the hope is that they can help the promise of this technology play out.

“The three biggest priorities that NPPC has for the Farm Bill is what we’d call the three-legged stool of animal health,” Bailey said. “That’s the National Animal Vaccine Bank, the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program and the National Animal Health Labs.”

American Farmland Trust Applauds Bipartisan Introduction of the NO EMITs Act

Yesterday, Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced the Naturally Offsetting Emissions by Managing and Implementing Tillage Strategies (NO EMITs) Act, a bill aimed at supporting farmers in improving soil health. American Farmland Trust (AFT) applauded the bipartisan bill’s introduction and its inclusion of one of AFT’s top Farm Bill priorities: establishing a federal match for state and Tribal soil health programs. Introduction of the No EMITs Act comes just days after AFT released a white paper outlining the need for this kind of federal matching program, and urging Congress to build up locally-led programs that supplement and fill gaps in NRCS conservation support. 

“In recent years, states have begun creating innovative soil health programs that fill current gaps in support and help producers voluntarily adopt soil health practices in locally-tailored ways,” said Tim Fink, Policy Director for American Farmland Trust. “But with limited state budgets, these programs struggle to keep pace with producer interest and demand. Creating a new federal program to match state and Tribal funding would help leverage existing soil health programs and incentivize others to create programs of their own.” 

Soil health is a key strategy to support farm viability, increase resilience to extreme weather, promote food security, and address environmental concerns. But soil health practice adoption is not sufficiently widespread—for example, in 2017, cover crops were planted on just 6% of eligible acres. NRCS programs are the main form of support to help producers successfully adopt soil health practices, but these popular programs are oversubscribed, address a wide range of resource concerns, and leave gaps, such as supporting equipment purchases that enable producers to adopt soil health practices.