U.S. Corn Crop Conditions Finally Improving, Oklahoma Winter Wheat Harvest at 80 Percent

Winter wheat harvested for the U.S. reached 37 percent, down 15 percentage points from the previous year and down 9 points from the average. Winter wheat conditions rated 40 percent good to excellent, 31 percent fair, and 29 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 40 percent good to excellent, 32 percent fair, and 28 percent poor to very poor.

Corn silking in the U.S. reached 8 percent, up one percentage point from the previous year and down one from the average. Corn conditions rated 51 percent good to excellent, 34 percent fair and 15 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated 50 percent good to excellent, 35 percent fair, and 15 percent poor to very poor. 

**Last week, the dry weather conditions in Illinois and Missouri were noted as the corn crops did not yield great conditions in the past crop progress report. Illinois is now sitting at 24 percent good to excellent, down from last week’s 26 percent good to excellent. Missouri’s crop is now at 37 percent good to excellent, improved from last week’s 31 percent good to excellent rating.

In Oklahoma, cotton conditions dropped 20 percent good to excellent since last week, and soybeans have dropped 10 percent good to excellent. Corn conditions have improved, while winter wheat conditions have remained unchanged. After recent rains, pasture and range conditions have improved by nearly 15 percentage points in the good to excellent category.

Winter wheat harvested reached 80 percent, down 17 points from the previous year and down 12 points from normal. Winter wheat conditions rated 45 percent good to excellent, 33 percent fair, and 22 percent poor to very poor. Last week’s conditions rated the same.



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One of the original Ag Leadership Programs in the US has identified a new set of leaders to train over the next eighteen months. The Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program, established as the result of a grant from the Kellogg Foundation in 1981, has graduated twenty classes since it’s inception.

The program can claim graduates who have served or are serving in State and National Farm and Ranch Leadership roles- multiple State Secretaries of Agriculture- as well as members of the Oklahoma State Legislature. The most recent class, Class XX had the dubious honor of being the longest active class because of having their learning extended because of COVID. They ended what turned out to be a three year experience this spring- graduating after a Capstone travel experience to Israel earlier in 2023(the group pictured above).

The Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program assists potential leaders to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and of people. This includes personal and group study and interaction, improving skills in communications, and developing a commitment to future leadership roles in Oklahoma agriculture.

Class XXI has been announced- and to see the list of class members that will start meeting in August- click on the blue button below.

Aligning EPD Indexes with Cattle Operation Objectives is Highly Critical

In this episode of Beef Buzz, I am talking with Bob Weaber, beef extension specialist at Kansas State University, about how EPD values can help cattle producers make breeding decisions.



As a tool, Weaber said selection indexes provide a useful way for commercial and seed stock producers to make aggregate selection decisions.

“The goal of an index is to provide economic information that weighs individual EPDs appropriately, given their contribution to profitability,” Weaber said. “So, it provides a more concise way for produces to make selection progress across all range of traits that are associated with farm-level profit.”

The recommendation Weaber said he usually gives producers is to pick the index that aligns best with their production objective.

“If you sell calves at weaning time, use a weaning endpoint index,” Weaber said. “If you sell calves on the rail and don’t keep any replacement heifers, you can use one of the terminal type indexes. Making sure you get the right index is as important as anything because it provides the right weightings for the traits.”

Those who have put these indexes together, Weaber said, have spent a lot of time making sure the parameters are correct along with the response to selection.

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 the 2023 cattle markets.

The first half of 2023 has certainly seen significant changes in cattle and beef markets. Prices are higher across the board as tighter cattle numbers and declining beef supplies push markets towards or beyond record levels. Remaining drought areas in the central and southern plains continue to shrink with continuing impacts on the regions but less impact nationally on cattle markets.

Beef production in the first 24 weeks of the year is down 4.9 percent from the 2022 record pace. In the last four weeks of data, beef production is down 5.3 percent year over year. Yearling (steer + heifer) slaughter is down 3.0 percent year over year so far in 2023, with steer slaughter down 4.7 percent for the year to date and heifer slaughter down 0.4 percent so far this year. However, heifer slaughter is down 4.9 percent year over year in the last four weeks and combines with a 5.9 percent decrease in steers slaughter to reduce total yearling slaughter 5.5 percent in the most recent four weeks of data. Total cow slaughter is down 4.4 percent for the year to date with a 12.1 percent year over year decrease in beef cow slaughter partially offset by a 5.5 percent year to date increase in dairy cow slaughter. Bull slaughter is down 8.4 percent thus far in 2023.

According to state climatologist Gary McManus, cooler temps are headed this way with a possibility of some rain.

“Storms are going to be possible throughout the week, but especially on Wednesday as we see a rather substantial July cold front," McManus said. McManus believes that could cool us down some for at least one day.

After we see lots of 90s on this day after the Fourth of July- Thursday temps will fall back into the 80s before jumping back into the 90s at the end of the week.

McManus said this storm system will be substantial at times across Northern Oklahoma, as will the possible rain totals, which is more good news for the state, especially during those triple-digit days.

McManus also added that the rains we have seen across June in Western Oklahoma have reduced the drought from 50% of the state at the end of May to 36% of the state at the end of June, according to the US Drought Monitor, and the amount of drought considered at least severe dropped from 43% to 14% over that same period.

“New drought areas in south-central and east central Oklahoma had emerged by the end of the month, however.," McManus said. "The July drought outlook from the Climate Prediction Center considered additional development unlikely and more improvements possible across north central and eastern Oklahoma by the end of the month. CPC’s July temperature and precipitation outlooks showed increased odds of warmer- and wetter-than- normal conditions across the entire state.”

USDA Announces Corrections to Emergency Relief Program Policy for 2020 and 2021

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is updating the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two to provide a method for valuing losses and accessing program benefits to eligible producers of certain crops, including grapes grown and used by the same producer for wine production or forage that is grown, stored and fed to livestock, that do not generate revenue directly from the sale of the crop. These updates ensure that ERP benefits are more reflective of these producers’ actual crop losses resulting from 2020 and 2021 natural disaster events.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will begin accepting ERP Phase Two applications from eligible wine grape and forage producers once this technical correction to ERP is

published in the Federal Register and becomes effective, which it anticipates will be on Friday, June 16, 2023. The deadline to submit applications for ERP Phase Two is July 14.

“When designing and implementing new programs for a sector as diverse and complex as agriculture, it’s almost inevitable that we encounter situations that we had not previously considered. The updates to the Emergency Relief Program that we are announcing today address the unique needs of producers of crops that are used on-farm and may not generate sales revenue,” said Zach Ducheneaux, Farm Service Agency Administrator. “I am grateful for our frequent conversations with producers, along with commodity and stakeholder groups, that helped us address existing gaps in this crucial disaster assistance program. FSA will continue to be nimble from a policy standpoint to try to provide assistance to all who need the help.”