My wife Jan and I want to wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas 2024- and I do have a few reminders about some of the openings and closings around this mid week Christmas 2024.

The world begins to grind to a halt later on this Christmas Eve. Check with businesses and restaurants that you may want to frequent on Tuesday afternoon- many will have early closing times and then will remain closed on Christmas day.

All Government offices are closed on Christmas day, no mail delivery- banks are closed and so are the equity markets.

Our ag futures trade begins to shut down in the noon hour central time. Grains will close and settle at 12:05 pm- and then not reopen for Preopen until 6 AM on Thursday morning. The regular opening of the market on the 26^th is at 8:30 AM.

Livestock trade will close at 12:15 PM on Tuesday and then will have a PreOpen at 8 AM on Thursday and a full Open at 8:30 AM.

As you may already know- our livestock auction markets across the country have mostly finished their trading for 2024- the only exception that we have seen listed is Joplin Regional will have a regular sale day on Monday, December 30, 2024. Most cattle auction markets will not crank back up until Monday, January 6, 2025. 

Enjoy the next few days- hopefully with family and friends- and we wish you a time filled with peace, love and joy!

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 Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

Christmastime and the holiday season certainly can be the most wonderful time of the year. People and businesses take a moment to pause from work and deadlines and reflect on their blessings, spending extra hours with both family and friends. For the majority of the population in the United States the days are filled with presents and food and smiles and laughter.

We are so incredibly fortunate to live here in the United States and more specifically in Oklahoma. We have the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food supply in the world thanks to our farmers and ranchers who work each and every day to provide us with food and fiber. We also have the safest place to enjoy our holidays thanks to current active-duty members of our military and veterans who know that the freedom we enjoy does not come for free.

I encourage all of us to take a moment and be thankful during this holiday season for those farmers and ranchers who still wake up to milk cows, check the health of livestock, and keep trucks rolling up and down the road on Christmas day and every day of the year. Farming is a profession of hope and of faith. I am hopeful that during this holiday time, you also remember the true meaning of the Christmas season.

The birth of Jesus reminds us that he came to give us love, hope, and joy. For those of us who spend many of our days in a barn, it seems fitting that our Savior joined us here on earth in a manger and was quickly joined by shepherds from nearby fields. During this holiday season, my family and I wish you and yours many blessings and look forward to a prosperous New Year!

Editor's note- we are grateful that Secretary Arthur provided her personal thoughts for this Christmas 2024

Feed Numbers Ending Year Virtually Unchanged Compared to December 2023

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talked to OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel after the latest USDA Cattle of Feed Report was released on Friday afternoon, and Dr. Peel said it was virtually unchanged from December 2023.

According to Dr. Peel, November placements were down 3.7%, marketings were down 1.4%, which equates to the total cattle on feed number being fractionally less than 0.5% less than a year ago.

“This report was almost right on the nose with the pre-report expectations, so certainly no surprises,” Dr. Peel said. “It shouldn’t provoke any market response.”

He noted that the marketing numbers were slightly lower than a year ago, but with one less business day in November, the adjusted average marketings for the month were just a bit higher than a year ago.

And- from this morning's farm and ranch news- KC did a little singing about her favorite farm things when it comes to the Christmas season- click here for her 12/24 report- her sharing of those favorite things start at about the 2:30 mark!

In the spring of 2003, Dr. Glenn Selk, Professor Emeritus and former Extension Beef Reproductive Specialist, started the Cow Calf Corner newsletter. He ended his tenure with the Cow Calf Corner in 2021, after 18 years, but today, he is contributing to the weekly series now published electronically by Dr. Derrell Peel, Mark Johnson, and Paul Beck.

It is the “most wonderful time of the year” and this week Dr. Selk joins us to address the age-old question of what permits Reindeer to pull Santa’s sleigh all over the globe on Christmas Eve.

Have you ever wondered how Santa’s reindeer can make that monumental journey on Christmas Eve? Let’s look into some key facts about reindeer that may help us understand how they transport Ole St. Nick on his appointed rounds over the world. First of all, historians report that reindeer have been domesticated by humans for over 5,000 years. Since Santa himself is no spring chicken, we can assume that they have worked together for quite a while. They should not have any trouble finding their way around. There is no need to worry about them getting lost. We do know that reindeer are like ruminants. They are like cattle in this regard. They have four compartments to their stomach.

Of course, Santa gets them filled up with hay before he leaves the North Pole, so they should have plenty of feed stored in the four compartments to make it all around the globe. Also, cattle nutritionists have known for years that hay digests more slowly than grain, therefore the big meal that the reindeer eat before the journey should last even longer. Or just like your mom says, “It’ll stick to their ribs!”. As for drinking water, that should be no problem whatsoever. In their homeland, the water is all frozen so they are used to getting the moisture they need by eating snow. So as the sleigh is parked on snowy rooftops in cold weather cities, the reindeer can take on the moisture they need if they get thirsty.

As we approach the day that we call Christmas- our world stops and considers the birth of a baby boy- and the first visitors that night were- as Blayne mentioned in her Christmas greetings above- sheep farmers!

I love how Max Lucado describes what the song by the Sidewalk Prophets explains- "The shepherds wondered- they couldn't hide it...Told everyone in sight...All were amazed how God came down on the Glorious night."

Let's jump over to that play by play offered a few years back from Lucado:

"There is one word that describes the night he came: ordinary. The sky was ordinary. It was a beautiful night but not really an unusual one. No reason to expect a surprise. Nothing to keep a person awake. The sheep were ordinary animals. No fleece made of gold. And the shepherds were peasants. Probably wearing the only clothes they owned. Smelling like sheep and no doubt looking just as woolly. They were nameless and simple.

"An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an ‘extra’ on the front of ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten and the shepherds would have slept the night away. But God dances among the common. He glories in the ordinary and that night the black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherds were fast asleep and the next they were rubbing their eyes and staring into the face of an alien. The night was ordinary no more!

"We are told that the shepherds were in the fields watching over their flock. That was their job: to be alert and be on duty. These shepherds knew what it was to stand among the sheep under rolling thunder and lightning. They knew what it was to put themselves at risk to protect their flock. But they had never experienced this!

"The events of that night in the Bethlehem outskirts were extraordinary! The Almighty was in their midst. The shepherds drew close to the spectacular. They were terrified! The angel reassured them, ‘Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great, joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide. A Saviour has just been born in David’s town... you are to look for a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger!’ (Luke 2:10-12)

"Their response captivates me. The initial fear for themselves and for their sheep triggered a determination in their next steps: ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.’ The shepherds hurried to find Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. For them, seeing was believing. It was that simple.

"God announced the greatest gift he would ever give the world to a few ordinary shepherds. How extraordinary is that! They were sent a message straight from Heaven, listened to a choir of praising angels and ran to find a most wondrous baby. God made their story extraordinary. They would never be ordinary again!"

These "sheep farmers" were the first witnesses of a night that has changed the world for the past 2,000 years. My wife Jan and I hope you understand the gift the world received from God that night- and that you can have received it. If you have not- I would love to visit with you about it. Give me call- text me- or drop me an email- my contact is in the bottom of today's email.

Thank you for the blessing you provide our team by reading and listening to our reports. You are so appreciated. We hope you have an awesome Christmas holiday- and my prayer is that you can be a blessing to others in your circle in and around Christmas 2024.



Give A Ham Update- Rodd Moesel and Don Schieber!

You may recall that I was challenged earlier this month to Give a Ham by Oklahoma Pork Council Treasurer Don Layne- we have responded by doing just exactly that- and we challenged some folks as well.

I called out long time friend and current Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Rodd Moesel and all alums and current class members of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program to #GiveAHam. One of our Class I classmates, Don Schieber, has responded by buying a ham and giving it- Thanks Don!!!!

And Rodd Moesel has accepted the challenge and given a ham- and has challenged all 77 Oklahoma County Farm Bureau Presidents to give a ham as well.

Here's the message on Facebook from Rodd- "We are responding to the Give a Ham challenge from our friend Ron Hays from here in the greenhouse! We hope you will join us in giving a ham to your local food pantry or food bank! Merry Christmas & pretty poinsettias to each of you!"

Click here to see Rodd's video message in accepting the challenge and asking those County Farm Bureau Presidents to Give a Ham.

It's not too late to accept our challenge and to pick out a local charity and be a blessing to them this season- they will need your help just as much on December 26th or later as they do on this Christmas Eve!!!