At the 2024 CatteCon being held in Orlando, Florida, I had the chance to catch up with Oklahoma rancher and Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion Board, Jimmy Taylor. 

Our coverage from the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Orlando is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.

Regarding Checkoff dollars, Taylor said a significant area of growth he has seen is the export demand.

“In my first year as a board member, they set an all-time record in 2018 with a little over 8 billion dollars,” Taylor said. “Since that time, the last two years have been over 10 billion dollars.”

While there have been headwinds in the export market this past year, causing volume and value percentages to fall behind, Taylor said numbers are still high above years in the past.

“Our value this year(Calendar 2023) at 11 months is 9.11 billion dollars,” Taylor said. “That blows that year in 2018 out of the water.”



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Gear up for the 2024 Oklahoma Local Agriculture Summit (OKLAS) on February 28- March 1st at the Hilton Garden Inn Edmond Conference Center in Edmond, OK! This multi-day conference will feature hands-on workshops, panel discussions, and traditional conference sessions of interest to farmers market managers, producers, community support organizations and agritourism site managers. OKLAS is hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Ag, Food, and Forestry in partnership with the Oklahoma Local Ag Collaborative.

Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk, had the chance to visit with event coordinator, Diana Prieto about this year’s schedule and more. Prieto is the Outreach Coordinator of the ONIE Project, which focuses on promoting healthy living through innovative strategies for communities, families, and individuals.

The conference will begin on Wednesday, February 28th with OKLAS workshops, including Innovative Farm Practices by Langston University and a marketing workshop.

“This year’s focus, we really wanted to help producers with the business aspect, and this is something we have been asked of a lot,” Prieto said.

NCBA’s Samantha Werth says Sustainability is U.S. Beef

At the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show (CattleCon) held in Orlando, Florida, I had the chance to talk with NCBA Senior Director of Sustainability Samantha Werth.

Looking at NCBA’s sustainability goals launched in November of 2021, Werth said there has been a continued focus on defining what sustainability means for U.S. beef.

“For us, that comes down to the animals, the people, and the planet,” Werth said. “We are really focused on what we can do as a cattle ranching and producing community to advance sustainability initiatives, continuously improve as we have for decades, and be able to leverage that work we are doing to share across the broader industry.”

In the sustainability conversation, Werth said everything stems back to the financial perspective. Because of this, Werth said NCBA works to help add value for producers when it comes to implementing new practices that would increase sustainability.

“There are a lot of things we can do and are doing in terms of how we manage our animals already,” Werth said.

Regarding the goal set to be carbon-neutral by 2040, Werth said things are on track.

With the second biggest eating day of the year after Thanksgiving upon us, there’s no hotter time for chicken wings. According to the National Chicken Council’s 2024 Wing Report, Americans will devour 1.45 billion wings while watching Kansas City and San Francisco battle for the championship trophy.

“Football is great. Wings are great. But they’re even better together,” said Council spokesman Tom Super. “Sure, you can have your chips, your guacamole, your pizza. But when it comes to menus next Sunday, wings rule the roost. So, grab a wet nap and enjoy America’s favorite party food for the Big Game.” 

To help visualize just how many wings that is:

• 1.45 billion wings is enough for every man, woman and child in the United States to eat four wings each.
• If Kansas City Coach Andy Reid ate 50 wings every day, it would take him 79,452 years to eat all 1.45 billion.
• 1.45 billion wings is enough to put 693 wings on every seat in all 30 NFL stadiums.
• If laid end-to-end, 1.45 billion wings would stretch 1/3 of the way to the moon.
• If each wing represented one second moving forward, 1.45 billion would be 46 years from now, or the year 2070.

Are Your Cows Too Large?

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 how mature cow weight can impact a producer’s operation.

From the 2012 Ag Census to the 2017 Ag Census, the number of beef farms decreased by 3.9% but cow numbers slightly increased. The consolidation was  from a 5% reduction in small ranches (1 to 100 cows), but 6% increases in medium ranches with 100 to 500  cows and 1% increase in large ranches with 500 or more cows. We will get to see what impact the recent droughts had on consolidation of cattle farms with the release of the 2022 Ag Census in mid February.  

 There are several barriers for young or new farmers entering beef cattle operations, these include high cost of land and equipment and relatively low returns on investment. The average annual cost per breeding female increased to over $1000 dollars per cow in 2022 and have remained at that level. The recent good calf prices have resulted in positive returns over cash costs for the last few years for cow-calf producers.  

OSU Agriculture Names Brian Arnall as Whatley Award Recipient for 2023

Oklahoma State University’s Brian Arnall has been named the 2023 recipient of the James A. Whatley Award for Meritorious Research in Agricultural Sciences by the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

First recognized in 1982, the award is presented annually and recognizes outstanding research contributions to advancements in agricultural sciences.

Arnall began as an OSU Extension precision nutrient management specialist in 2006 and also became a professor in the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in 2019.

“It is such an honor to receive an award, especially given the amazing research contributions of my colleagues here at OSU,” Arnall said.

OSU Agriculture Names Sarkeys Distinguished Professor Award Recipient for 2023

Oklahoma State University’s Kirankumar Mysore has been named a recipient of the 2023 Sarkeys Distinguished Professor Award by the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.



The Sarkeys Award was created by the Sarkeys Foundation in 1980 in honor of Elmo Baumann, an agronomist who worked with the foundation following his retirement from OSU. The annual award recognizes those with outstanding contributions to the agricultural industry through teaching, research or Extension efforts.

“Looking at the past awardees, they are all highly accomplished individuals, and it is great to be a part of the prestigious awardee list,” Mysore said. “This being my first award from OSU, it means a lot to me, and I am motivated to achieve more in my research.”

From CattleCon- a Quick Look at the Wednesday Cattle Inventory Report

The USDA Cattle Inventory Report was released on the first full day of action at CattleCon in Orlando- showing the US cattle herd and the US Beef Cow herd continuing to decline in 2023.

On January 1st, there were 87.1157 million cattle in the U.S., 2% lower than a year ago, with all cows and heifers that have calved also declining 2%. That Beef Cow number is 28.223 million head.

Texas remains the largest Beef Cow state with 4.11 million head with Oklahoma number two at 1.922 million head as of January first.

You can listen to our full conversation with Derrell Peel here in Orlando about the report by clicking here.