For the second time since 2017, the OSU College of Vet Medicine is back on probationary accreditation.

After a review this past month- the OSU-CVM is back in the same position it found itself in 2017. Oklahoma State has released the following update on where the College currently stands:

The OSU-CVM remains fully accredited. However, after its scheduled review in September, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) placed the college on probationary accreditation until certain deficiencies are addressed.

Probationary status enables the college to retain its accreditation while addressing specific concerns raised by the AVMA. The status does not adversely impact the quality of OSU-CVM’s educational programs, as evidenced by CVM graduates’ recent performance in national licensing testing, with passing rates of 96% and 94% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 

Oklahoma AgCredit supports rural Oklahoma with reliable and consistent credit, today and tomorrow. We offer loans for land, livestock, equipment, operating costs and country homes (NMLSR #809962) to farmers, ranchers and rural businesses across 60 counties. As a cooperative, we are owned by the members we serve. Through our Patronage Program, we have returned more than $74 million to our members since 1997.

For more information on our services or to find a location near you, visit our website here.

USDA's weekly Crop Progress Report shows that nationwide, harvest is expanding - the US corn crop is now 91% harvested- Soybeans are 63% harvested and the US Cotton crop is now 63% harvested.

Dry weather has Winter Wheat plantings in Oklahoma well behind the 5-year average of 88% at 72 percent with 47 percent of our crop emerged. Our neighbors are much closer to the five-year average with 94 percent planted in Kansas with 76 percent of their crop emerged, and Texas now stands at 76 percent planted with 52 percent of their crop emerged.

Oklahoma's winter wheat conditions rated 31 percent good to excellent, up 10 points from last week. Kansas's were up 2 points at 38 percent good to excellent and Texas's conditions rated 24 percent good to excellent, a 13 percent improvement.



Oklahoma's cotton and soybean harvests are underway with cotton at 40 percent, equal to a year ago, and soybeans at 49 percent harvested, down 5 points from a year ago.

The Oklahoma Corn crop is now 95 percent harvested up 2 points from this point a year ago - while the Oklahoma Grain sorghum crop is now 72 percent harvested versus 69 percent a year ago.

The Kansas corn harvest reached 93 percent, equal to last year. The Soybean harvest is 7 points behind a year ago at 93 percent. The Sorghum harvest is 3 points ahead of a year ago at 81 percent. Kansas cotton is 50 percent harvested, up 10 points from a year ago.

Texas's corn and Sorghum harvests are complete.

Their cotton harvest is 58 percent completed, well above 70 percent a year ago. The soybean harvest is 90 percent complete, 7 points ahead of this time a year ago.

No Pasture and Range Conditions for the 48 states were given- but we have state numbers here in the southern plains. Oklahoma has improved 2 points to a 9 percent good rating - Kansas improved 2 points to 19 percent good to excellent - Texas is unchanged at an 11 percent good to excellent rating.

Oklahoma Angus Breeder Barry Pollard Wraps Up His Year as President of the American Angus Association

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, caught up with outgoing American Angus Association President, and Oklahoma Rancher, Barry Pollard. On the last day of his term as both President and a board member, Pollard reflected on the association and the breed as a whole.

Pollard served on the board of directors for eight years and says that interest in the Angus industry is at an all-time high. “We’ve developed EPDs, a lot of accurate and reliable tools for producers, and people have taken advantage of those opportunities and created herds of Angus cattle that are superior in many aspects from mothering ability to carcass qualities.”

According to Pollard, those qualities are the basis of the breed’s success. He said, “As Americans have become more accustomed to finer quality meat and their desire for it continues to grow, not only in the United States but also across the world. It has created a demand for the Angus breed which excels in those carcass traits.”

No matter which organization Pollard has been involved with, he understands the importance of helping the youth grow as future producers and leaders. “Our junior program is robust,” he said.

“One of the things I’m really excited about is on our new website, we are creating an Angus Beef Academy. It offers courses on the beef industry, and people can earn points towards various types of recognition for their accomplishments in those learning modules. It is a great opportunity to get that information out to our youth.”

Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) is a crop insurance product administered by the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA). WFRP provides protection against the risk of farm revenue generated by all crops falling below a level of guaranteed revenue.  Expected revenue is found by taking the most recently available five-year average of whole farm revenue reported on the Schedule F farm income tax form. For example, the expected revenue for 2024 is found by taking the average of revenue reported in 2018-2022. Subsequently, the expected revenue is multiplied by the producer-elected coverage level to determine the guaranteed revenue or WFRP liability.  The WFRP revenue guarantee is capped at $17 million.

Like other multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) products, the WFRP premium is subsidized by rates determined through federal legislation. The subsidy, or portion of the actuarially fair premium rate paid by the government, decreases as the elected coverage level increases. The WFRP producer premium may be further reduced through the Diversity Factor, which is a percentage multiplied by the actuarially fair rate. As the number of qualifying commodities insured increases, the greater the discount in the actuarially fair premium rate. Lastly, the WFRP producer premium may be reduced for those producers who have Beginning Farmer or Rancher or Veteran Farmer Status. Combining all three of these producer premium reductions can result in up to a 90% reduction in the actuarially fair premium.

While the increasing trend in federal crop insurance participation since its inception can be largely attributed to increases in the premium subsidy rate, not all programs have experienced the same utilization (Yehouenou et al., 2018). Yehouenou et al. (2018) cite the reluctance of crop insurance agents to encourage purchasing STAX as one reason for the lack of participation despite the 80% premium subsidy rate attached to all coverage levels. Whole Farm Revenue Protection also faces a lag in participation and has experienced a decline in purchased liability since its inception in 2015.   Average purchased liability of about $2 billion per year (Figure 1), which is far less than yield protection (YP) and revenue protection (RP) purchased liability which averaged over $100 billion over the same period (Figure 2).

The Summer 2024 issue of Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Oklahoma Country magazine, filled with stories from around Oklahoma agriculture and Farm Bureau, is headed to mailboxes and is also available online for viewing and reading. Be sure to check out the digital copy in addition to the print copy mailed to each and every OKFB member.

OKFB’s Fall 2024 magazine features Ottawa County members Justin and Jared Miller, growing their pecan legacy from harvesting trees in their spare time to a state-of-the art pecan cracking and retail business. Also in the Fall issue, Kay County member Garrett Haskins takes achievement to a different level, winning the 2024 YF&R Achievement Award.

Additional magazine content includes Major County Farm Bureau member, Paisley White shares her agriculture story through her book “Scout the Scottish Highlander” and Bill Peetom, an Ellis County Farm Bureau member follows-up from the recent wildfires in the panhandle.

Check out our featured content below, and OKFB members can read the print edition delivered directly to their mailboxes.

Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Peel and Mark Johnson. Today, Dr. Peel discusses how recent rainfall will affect producers.



Data from the Oklahoma Mesonet shows that Stillwater, Oklahoma received 2.36 inches of rain on August 11, 2024. For the next 78 days, a total of 0.92 inches of rain fell with only one day receiving more than 0.2 inches and 72 days with zero precipitation. Starting October 30, Stillwater received 5.49 inches of rain in 5 days (Figure 1), with additional rain falling at the time of writing. Figure 1 confirms that the majority of Oklahoma received significant rain in this period. As is frequently the case in Oklahoma, the much-needed rain arrived in the form of severe storms with several tornados, leaving a trail of damage in several communities. 

The rain is very helpful to the Oklahoma winter wheat crop and revives prospects for limited late wheat grazing. The Crop Progress report for the last week of October showed that wheat planting in Oklahoma was at 59 percent, compared with the five-year average of 81 percent for that date. Wheat emerged was at 36 percent, compared to an average of 62 percent. The moisture will jump-start wheat growth, but very little winter wheat will be grazable before December and perhaps not much before the end of the year.



The heavy storms likely provided some critical recharge of water supplies for cattle. Refilling ponds will allow some cattle producers to avoid difficult decisions to relocate or liquidate cattle due to lack of drinking water. It is not clear how much or how widespread pond water recharge occurred. The extremely dry conditions meant that much of the rain absorbed quickly and did not run, although flash flooding occurred in several locations. 

Below- here is the latest Mesonet rainfall map for the last seven days- remarkable numbers- the map is clickable so you can go explore specific rainfall totals location by location.