According to the latest Oklahoma Drought Monitor report, exceptional drought and extreme drought remain at zero percent, unchanged from the start of the calendar year.

There have been no changes this week in Severe drought or worse, Moderate drought or worse, or Abnormally dry or worse conditions from last week.

As for our neighbors, conditions continued to deteriorate in parts of northern Kansas and parts of western Texas, where precipitation totals were 5% to 25% of normal for the past month. Moderate to severe drought were expanded into central Kansas, while extreme drought was expanded and exceptional drought was introduced into the Trans-Pecos region of Texas this week. 

Click here for the Kansas Drought Monitor Page and Click here for the Texas Drought Monitor Page.

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission promotes greater use of wheat in domestic and international markets through research, market development and public education.

Our Commissioners develop policy and programs, direct the funding, represent producer interests and, of course, promote Oklahoma wheat!

Learn more about the Oklahoma Wheat Commission by clicking here for their website

At the 2024 OCA Convention, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is back talking with Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel about his 4-3-2 prediction from a year ago.

At the 2023 Convention, Peel talked about 4-3-2 cattle prices, meaning $4 stocker calves, $3 yearlings, and $2 fat cattle. In recent days, the $2 fed steer prediction has rang true, and the others have come very close.

“We’ve already hit the ‘2’ part of that for fed cattle. We haven’t quite made it to $3 for the big cattle, the eight-weights, but they are running $2.60-ish right now. We aren’t that far away, and the calves got really close in the spring-highs in March, and they’ll come back,” Peel assured producers. “The timeline has been extended a little, and we may not hit all of those in 2024, but we will hit them before this is all over with.”

Peel expects these elevated prices to hold long term. Due to reduced numbers in production and no signs of herd rebuilding, he expects the prices to last for a minimum of 3 or 4 years. He said, “It will take that long to ‘tear up our playhouse,’ if you will, by producing our way back into lower prices.”

Promoting Soil Health: Tips from Soil Experts Josh Anderson and James Blom

At the OCA Convention, Farm Director KC Sheperd spoke with Oklahoma Conservation Commission representatives Josh Anderson and James Blom. Anderson and Blom are from the soil health team, so they weighed in on what their role in conservation is.

Blom said, “In terms of conservation, we are leaning towards soil health principals from no-till all the way to crop rotation and cover crops, when it is a fit, and integrating livestock into all of it.”

Anderson is from Marshall County, which doesn’t produce many crops, but he offered advice on getting started with soil conservation methods. “Many producers in our area begin with rotational grazing practices. If they want to do some cropping, they will no-till some of the summer cover crops. Whether they graze those or bale them for hay, those are usually the easiest entry point into soil health principles that I can give people in our area.”

Blom added that tillage creates drought by causing soil moisture loss. He warned that the practices utilized on each acre of land affects other acres down the road through the mechanisms of soil loss, water quality, and water availability.

Today, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Public Lands Council (PLC) issued statements following the House passage of H.R. 8998, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2025:

“This Interior appropriations bill protects the rights of public lands grazing permittees, reels in overreaching BLM regulations, addresses Endangered Species Act challenges, defends local communities against Presidential land grabs under the Antiquities Act, and recognizes the important role of ranchers—America’s original conservationists—in the stewardship of our nation’s public lands,” said Public Lands Council President and grazing permittee Mark Roeber. “The Public Lands Council is very thankful for the work of key partners on the House appropriations Committee, House Natural Resources Committee, and Western Caucus for crafting this legislation that supports our western ranchers.”

“Whether you’re a cattle producer on public lands or private lands, overregulation from the federal government is a serious challenge,” said NCBA President Mark Eisele, a Wyoming rancher. “The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is extremely pleased with this Interior appropriations package that supports American agriculture, protects farms and ranches from burdensome rules, and protects the rights of public lands ranchers, who represent an important part of the cattle industry and a driving force in rural economies. We appreciate the House passing this critical bill and we urge the Senate to back this legislation and send it to the President’s desk.”

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 increasing the resilience of the beef cattle supply.

Last week I covered some of the impacts of drought on cow numbers and the feeder cattle supply based on comments I made at a symposium at the American Society of Animal Science meeting held in Calgary “Increasing the Resilience of the Beef Cattle Feeder Supply”. This week I will cover some additional impacts of drought and changing weather patterns on cattle reproductive performance.

Increased culling of cows and earlier marketing of calves has triggered the decreased cattle numbers we are currently experiencing, but the drought and climatic conditions have other impacts on cattle supplies as well. Drought and climate extremes are related to reductions in forage growth and quality, and heat stress of livestock. Cows under nutrient restrictions due to the lack of available forage or forage of low nutritive quality lose body weight and body condition resulting in reduced fertility and rebreeding rates, further exacerbating the already reduced cattle numbers. Cows under heat stress and undernutrition have reduced production and quality of colostrum, impacting immune function and lifetime health and wellbeing of their progeny. Below is data from Dr. Richard Prather and Ellis County Animal Hospital showing artificial insemination pregnancy (PAI) rates from 3 herds in 2022 and 2023. Cows in herd 4 (light blue bars) were maintained in adequate body condition (BCS) in both years with excellent fertility and reproduction rates. Cows in herd 6 lost condition from breeding to pregnancy check in 2022 and had lower breeding rates, but increasing condition in 2023 improved cow fertility. While cows in herd 2 were thinner in 2023 and continued to lose condition, resulting in reduced fertility in 2023.