Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is Beef Buzzing with Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel about wheat pasture prospects and stocker demand.

“There is always interest in grazing wheat in the fall,” Dr. Peel said. “If a producer is interested in forage, it’s about getting wheat in in late summer. It is always a race between summer temperatures, soil moisture conditions, and such.”

He described seeing a lot of farming going on in Northwest Oklahoma as he drove through recently. Anhydrous was being applied, ahead of planting proving their growing intent of planting for forage, as grain raisers don’t generally plant until late October.

At this point in the season, Dr. Peel says that there are still many questions to be answered. Will weather conditions allow for wheat pasture to grow? What will the stocker economics look like?



The Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program knows this is a hard time for farmers and ranchers. We want you to know we are still open, and we are still here for you. The Ag Mediation program is a free service that provides mediation to agriculture producers who may need help with ag-related disputes.

At Oklahoma Ag Mediation, we have been helping people in agriculture resolve conflicts since 1987. We know firsthand about working together to resolve conflicts, so you don’t have to go through the court systems. Let our professional mediators help you. Mediation is allowed for lease issues, farmer/neighbor disputes, family farm transitions, and more. These services are available at no cost for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in all 77 counties. For more information, you can go to ok.gov/mediation, or give us a call at 800 248 5465.

USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer says export volumes may increase but at low prices. “A lot of this is tied to falling commodity prices, and the world getting a lot more comfortable with where supplies of corn, wheat, beef, and cotton all are relative to where we were between 2020 and 2023,” he said. “Yes, volumes are up a little bit, but that is because, in order to move a more abundant product, you are having to see some price declines to move some of that stuff out the door.”

The fiscal year 2025 could cause producers dependent on exports to tighten their belts, as USDA is projecting that year’s exports at $169.5 million, which is down $4 billion from this current year, and down 26.5 billion from two years ago.

Meyer said that in addition to falling commodity prices, other things around the world are affecting the export prices. He listed, “Maybe a slower Chinese economy, continued strength of the U.S. dollar, China diversifying its sources for trade, perhaps a little bit weaker on export competitiveness for ourselves… those are all things which are posing some challenges for our exports.”

Meanwhile, exports continue to rise. The USDA reports that 2025 could end up with an Ag Trade Deficit of more than $42 billion.

A Third, a Third and aThird- the Life and Times of Kim Anderson

If you have ever taken the advice from OSU Grain Market Economist Dr. Kim Anderson- or sat in one of his Sales Marketing classes he taught for 24 years- you need to pull this conversation up and listen to the wit and wisdom and advice from the now retired OSU Ag Economist.

On this latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- He and Ron Hays with the Oklahoma Farm Report have a conversation that will take you through Kim growing up in Muskogee County to studying at Connors after High School to working for the Green Giant as he turned 19 before enlisting in the Navy.

Dr. Anderson tells of a turning point in his life under a full moon in Guam- what he learned while being a consumer extension specialist at the University of Kentucky to being able to come home “west of the Mississippi” in 1982 to Stillwater, Oklahoma, when he took the extension grain market economist position.

He told us about trying comedy in his extension presentations early on- found out that didn’t work and switched to a all meat approach- providing farmers in the state and region things to think about when it came to marketing strategy.

AND Ron and Dr. Anderson dove into the story behind the Third, the Third, The Third marketing plan for winter wheat each year after harvest- which Dr. Anderson says was(and still is) all about dollar cost averaging.

You can listen to this conversation with Kim on our website by clicking on the button below- or you can find it where ever you listen to your podcasts- click here for the link on the Apple Podcasts platform.

While attending Farm Progress, Maci Carter caught up with Josh Putman to learn about the company and his role there. Putman is the technical marketing manager for corn herbicides in the United States.

“We want to bring farmers the latest and greatest technology to help manage resistant weeds in corn production systems,” Putman said. “One of the things that we are really excited to highlight here is Surtain Herbicide”

Surtain Herbicide is the company’s newest pre-emergent product to be offered to corn producers. Surtain Herbicide is unique because it has the flexibility to be used both pre- and post-emergence. It is composed of a mixture of both pytoxasulfone (Zidua SC) and saflufenacil (Kixor). Adding to its appeal, it contains the only solid encapsulated herbicide on the market.

“Especially in seasons like we had in 2024, weeds in corn fields tend to get away from us,” Putman said. “This product gives us a bigger window for application.”

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 Beef Quality Assurance Program.

Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is a nationally coordinated, state-implemented program that provides systematic information to U.S. beef producers and beef consumers of how common-sense animal husbandry techniques can be coupled with scientific knowledge to raise cattle under optimum management and environmental conditions. BQA guidelines are designed to make certain all beef consumers have confidence in the entire beef industry. The BQA program is a producer-driven certification program designed to assure consumers that cattle from all industry segments (cow-calf, stocker, feedlot) are healthy, wholesome, and have been produced under the best management practices in the cattle industry. When beef producers become BQA certified it sends a message to consumers that they are willing to take the management steps necessary to produce a quality product.

The BQA program is voluntary. There is no requirement for cow-calf or stocker operations to be certified unless they sell calves into a premium or branded program that includes BQA certification as a requirement. The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN) does require producers to be BQA certified. Accordingly, while certification is not required for cow-calf or stocker operations, it can open the door to increased profit potential. Most packers require fed cattle they purchase be sourced from BQA-certified operations, not surprisingly, nearly all feedlots are BQA-certified.

University of Missouri researchers are working to develop the first-ever vaccine proven to protect cattle from a devastating tick-borne cattle disease known as bovine anaplasmosis. The research is vital to the state’s economy as it aims to protect Missouri’s $1.6 billion cattle industry.

Bovine anaplasmosis — which is common in Missouri — infects the red blood cells of cattle and causes hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses nationwide each year and nearly $1 billion in losses worldwide, primarily due to reduced cattle production, treatment costs and deaths.

Roman Ganta, a McKee endowed professor in Mizzou’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a Bond Life Sciences Center researcher, led the study that created the new vaccine. The work involved genetically modifying the pathogen Anaplasma marginale — which causes bovine anaplasmosis — in a lab. By deleting a specific gene and then injecting the modified pathogen into cattle, the vaccinated cattle were successfully immunized against the disease.

“I often receive calls from cattle producers who are excited about our research and want to know how soon they can get the vaccine,” Ganta said. “There is currently no effective, widely available, vaccine for the disease, and cattle farmers are very worried about the disease harming or killing their cattle. We want to help farmers in Missouri and around the world and are working hard to come up with a viable solution.”