According to the latest Oklahoma drought monitor report, exceptional drought remains at zero percent, unchanged from the start of the calendar year.

Extreme drought or worse has increased to 7.56 percent, up from 5.62 percent last week.

Severe drought or worse has increased to 31.78 percent, up from 28.36 percent last week.

Moderate drought or worse, has increased to 61.10 percent, up from 60.63 percent last week.

Abnormally dry or worse have increased slightly to 78.95 percent, up from 78.58 percent last week.

As for our neighbors, Hurricane Francine delivered heavy rain across much of Mississippi, as well as parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. A separate area of heavy rain, prior to Francine’s arrival, soaked a small geographic area in southeastern Oklahoma, northeastern Texas, and southwestern Arkansas. However, areas outside the range of these downpours largely experienced worsening drought conditions. Several patches of extreme drought (D3) continued to affect key agricultural regions of both Oklahoma and Texas. In Texas’ northern panhandle, record-setting highs for September 13 included 102°F in Borger and 101°F in Amarillo.

Kansas Drought Monitor shows more than half of the state in Moderate Drought - 65.05% this week versus 56.14% last week. Texas Drought ratings also saw drought expanding to 34.06% versus 32.16% a week ago.

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

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.

The 19th Annual 2024 Diamond Hats Gala brought together a lot of great supporters of 4-H and FFA youth in our state on Thursday evening- the fundraiser filled the Great Hall at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

For 18 years, Diamond Hats has been impacting the lives of thousands of Oklahoma young people through scholarships, donations, leadership training and motivational events. The annual Gala is their biggest single fundraiser to make that all happen.

I was honored to be back as Emcee again- and it was a fun and busy night- at the end of the evening- we were able to announce that just over $250,000 had been raised to help the Diamond Hats support their efforts at the 2025 Oklahoma Youth Expo- congrats to Darla Reuter, President of the Diamond Hats and all of their members who care about the future of our state by investing their time and resources to encourage and support our rural youth.

And- congrats- to Kylee Deniz of the Oklahoma Pork Council- she was named as the 2024 Oklahoma Ag Woman of the Year by the group- we will spotlight her in a story in Monday's email.!

CattleFax Trends+ Cow-Calf Webinar Reveals Record High Cow Prices Happening in 2024

On Wednesday, September 18, CattleFax put on a Trends+ Cow-Calf webinar to discuss feedstuff markets and the cattle market outlook for the remainder of 2024 and early 2025. We are featuring some of the comments from CattleFax Market Analyst Matt McQuagge on commercial cow slaughter, bred cow values, and a strategy for cull cows for producers to consider.

During the webinar, McQuagge talked about commercial cow slaughter trends in 2024. He said that the count was down from a year ago numbers and expects close to a million head of commercial cows to have been slaughtered by the end of the year. To date, beef cows are down 375,000 head, a 16 percent reduction, and dairy cows are down 300,000 head, a 14 percent reduction.

“As we look at these decreases in numbers, this is translating to record high utility cow prices,” McQuagge said. “So, within this year, we expect prices to average around one twenty-five per hundredweight for a utility grade cow. The season will decline into the October-November-December timeframe. We expect prices to end the year, or to find support, around that one twenty per hundredweight level, so, prices should come in and average around one thirty-five in the coming year.”

He reiterated that the decline in harvest numbers and the increase in demand for ground beef have benefited prices. He recommends holding cull cows over to 2025 to take advantage of the projected high prices.

On August 26, 2024, CBOT, KBOT, and MGEX wheat futures prices declined to four-year lows, pressured by the Northern Hemisphere harvest, adequate supplies in aggressive exporters, and generally low prices for feed grains and oilseeds.

Since then, futures prices have sustained a multi-week rally, fueled by a weakening dollar, technical short covering from speculative funds, and a recent escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war. However, the question remains: has market sentiment shifted into a bullish market, or will the bearish trend hold? The following describes the current market factors and fundamentals influencing price trends.

Despite a cumulative 20.5 MMT drop in wheat production from the EU, Russia, and Ukraine, the September WASDE reported that the total output for major exporters was just 1% lower than the previous year and 1% below the five-year average. Source: September 2024 WASDE.

This week on SUNUP, OSU Extension livestock marketing specialist Dr. Derrell Peel talks about a statue that is very important to his field of study and expertise.

He recently took OSU students to study abroad via an agricultural tour in Scotland where they saw the “Father of Economics” statue, a rendition of 18th-century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith.

Smith wrote a book called An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Dr. Peel said, “It described how markets worked and how people pursuing their self-interests will lead to increases in wealth based on trade and markets. It’s the basis for most of our market economy.”

While attending Crop Progress, Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter caught up with Jessie Bhalerao, of FIRST – Farmers Independent Research of Seed Technologies to find out what the organization is all about.

FIRST has been in business for more than 25 years doing on-farm research with variety trials, similar to those conducted by universities. The trials evaluate several varieties of hybrids, and soybean varieties in the same plot, literally head-to-head.

“It’s a great way to determine what kind of seed you want to purchase for next season because a lot of the entries into our test are up-and-coming new varieties that seed companies will want to sell the next year,” Bhalerao commented.

FIRST garners participation from seed companies to have varieties to test. Bhalerao said, “They pay a fee to be entered into the trials, so we are asking which products they want to place in the test. We then add some different varieties to compare to the ones they have entered, and we put them into a three replicant test, so that is a lot of information management in order to put the plants out there three times in each field, meanwhile, our field managers are looking for farmers willing to work with us to host the trials on their farms.

New era of value-added calf programs shows what buyers value

Quality nutrition is at a premium in an evolving feeder calf market. For several decades, value-added programs have emphasized health protocols and genetics. Now, nutrition is taking its rightful place by factoring into buying decisions.

“Cow-calf producers can certainly benefit from being involved with value-added programs that highlight nutrition,” says Ted Perry, cattle nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition. “These programs truly make better cattle. The calves are hardier, have a better immune system and are more ready to go to the feedyards.”

Mineral nutrition program

Last year, Purina Animal Nutrition introduced the Purina® Wind and Rain® Mineral Value-Added Program, one of the first feeder calf programs to provide buyers with calves that have a foundation built on quality mineral nutrition. Calves enrolled in the program receive vitamins and minerals from conception to weaning.