To view the latest Oklahoma drought map, CLICK HERE.

Exceptional and Extreme Drought remains no where to be found in the state of Oklahoma.

However, Severe drought or worse is now at 9.12 percent, up from last week’s 5.50 percent. The Severe drought found in the state is mostly along the state line with Kansas from Kay County to Beaver County. It joins up with the 27% of Kansas that is also in severe drought

Moderate drought or worse is now at 28.10 percent, down from last week’s 35.54 percent.

Abnormally dry or worse conditions are now at 58.9 percent, down from last week’s 65.87 percent.

Rain showers have been a part of the Oklahoma landscape since last weekend- and chances of rain are significant from Friday evening all the way to Sunday evening across many locations in Oklahoma- even in drier western parts of the state..

The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community, and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. 

To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes. 

And Check out this video below that helps you learn more about the Beef Checkoff- It's new Drive in Five from the Beef Checkoff!.

At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Washington Watch Event, Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to visit with the Senior Director of Governmental Affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Tanner Beymer. I am featuring comments from the conversation regarding the appropriations process and priorities for the cattle business.

Looking into the full fiscal year of 2025, Beymer said it will be critical to build upon existing priorities for 2024, including successes such as funding animal disease traceability electronic identification tags so that producers do not have to pay to comply with the newly released final rule from USDA.

“We also want to build upon some of those opportunities where we didn’t quite get what we wanted in the last bill by defunding USDA’s harmful packers and stockyards rules,” Beymer said. “We got really close to the finish line on that during this last fiscal ’24 appropriations cycle. At the last second, some other groups weighed in very unhelpfully, and now all of a sudden, we are in a position where those rules are going to be allowed to take effect.”

Regarding the 2024 Farm Bill, Beymer said Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson is looking to have that moved across the finish line soon.

Introducing Ashlee Purvine of the Thomas-Fay-Custer FFA Chapter, Your 2024 Southwest Area Star in Agricultural Production

This morning, our coverage of the 2024 Oklahoma FFA Star Award Finalists continues with Agricultural Production competitor Ashlee Purvice of the Thomas-Fay-Custer FFA chapter representing the Southwest Area.

Farm Director KC Sheperd interviewed all 18 Star finalists recently in Stillwater after they were judged in their respective areas- and you can hear KC talk with Ashlee by clicking on the blue button at the bottom of this story.

“My Supervised Agricultural Experience consists of my show projects,” Purvine said.

“My operation kind of started as just a group of retired show heifers, but it has quickly grown into a large foundation of Simmental and Angus genetics that I will continue to utilize for the rest of my life,” Purvine said.

Because genetics play a large role in her project, Purvine said her focus on producing top-quality cattle is critical.

“Not just trying to find a great phenotypical bull to use on cows, but also trying to find a bull that has great EPDs and has the kind of numbers that a commercial producer would like to use,” Purvine said.

Purvine plans to expand her operation throughout the years and one day market elite show heifer prospects, embryos, and Simmental bull semen in online sales.

Our coverage of the Stars and the 2024 State FFA Convention is powered by Hilliary Communications.

After recent wildfires and devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma, Associate Farm Editor Reagan Calk had the chance to talk with Oklahoma State University associate professor of agricultural economics, Dr. Amy Hagerman, about USDA Wildfire and Disaster Assistance programs.

“The main thing that people need to know is to do timely reporting of the damages,” Hagerman said. “A lot of these programs have a bit of a time clock associated with them, so getting timely reporting of those damages and documentation is so critical for any of these programs.”

“Keep those records in your own files, because those are the things that you can turn around and use as documentation for these programs,” Hagerman said. “There are a lot of different programs. I think another thing for people to realize is that there are different programs for different areas of loss. You can stack these programs on top of each other for the different areas of loss you may experience.”

“Also, they each have different payment limitations, so applying for one program and getting a full payment for that program doesn’t make you ineligible to apply for another program because it is covering a different area of loss,” Hagerman said.



Hagerman recommends producers reach out to their local Farm Service Agency office to ask questions and find out which program(s) may work best for the losses they have experienced.

Today, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC) reacted to the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) final Phase 2 rule amending the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which will make the process even more burdensome for livestock producers.

“In a time when the Biden Administration should be focusing on reducing regulatory burden on themselves and their partners, this new NEPA framework does the opposite. The Biden Administration largely ignored the requirements Congress passed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act that would streamline NEPA processes. Instead, this final rule changes the focus of NEPA, making it more ambiguous, less targeted, and nearly impossible to navigate,” said Kaitlynn Glover, NCBA Executive Director of Natural Resources and PLC Executive Director. “This rule will make federal permitting, including for grazing permits, so much more difficult and expensive, and gives radical activists groups further license to weaponize NEPA against ranchers and rural communities.”

NMPF CEO’s Corner: We Will Meet HPAI’s Challenge

Gregg Doud is the CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation and he offers these comments in an Op-Ed about the dairy industry taking on HPAI:

For more than a month now, dairy farmers and the entire industry have been working together to manage a challenge that they didn’t create and didn’t bring upon themselves. As of Monday, farmers are now dealing with new federal mandates that are complicating their livelihoods, even as they’re aimed toward mitigating a very real animal and potential public health risk. And because these challenges revolve around a virus, our circumstances aren’t fully under our control.

But they’re challenges we can meet. 

Since Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in dairy cattle was first identified in the Texas Panhandle in late March, we at NMPF have been tirelessly monitoring, learning, and applying new information to the situation as it evolves, answering questions for our members and advocating for dairy’s interests as policymakers and the general public understandably pay increased attention to dairy farms. 

As farm biosecurity becomes top-of-mind, we’re proud to say we’ve already been thinking about it, through our FARM Biosecurity initiative, which was initially developed thanks in part to a USDA cooperative agreement. As knowledge of HPAI and its effects on cattle develop, we’re blessed with deep knowledge of animal care and science on our own staff.

So even in uncertainty, there’s much we can do. What we can’t do is declare an early victory over this challenge or predict an endpoint at which these concerns pass. The fact is, there may not be an endpoint.

But we’re ready. As we’ve learned these past few weeks, we have an ability to work together, meet challenges, and respond nimbly as circumstances evolve.

More Stories for Your Weekend Reading