At the NCBA’s CattleCon 2025, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, continued his conversation with Senior Protein Analyst for Terrain, Don Close. In part one of their talk, they discussed the 2024 Cattle Inventory Report. Today, they are focused on today’s beef consumers.

Coverage of CattleCon 2025 is powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater, Oklahoma.

According to Close, modern consumers are keenly focused on the price and value of products they buy. “When we look at real per capita expenditures, we look at the demand improvement for beef and whole,” he explained. “We look at the improvement for demand in prime product – the upper 2/3 of product – and we look at ground beef demand and we compare those beef-on-beef comparisons to beef to the other species. We continue to gain market share.”

He is impressed with the phenomenal loyalty of consumers through the wreckage of the COVID pandemic and now, as prices are hiked. He said that the only good thing that may have come out of the pandemic is that consumers realized that they could experience restaurant-quality beef at home for less money.

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The Trump administration has chosen Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former top U.S. health and security official, to lead the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, people familiar with the matter said this past week. 

Parker’s career includes more than three decades in the federal government focusing on global health, national security and pandemic preparedness. He will serve as director of the office, which was established by Congress in 2022.

Parker’s tenure at the Departments of Health & Human Services, Homeland Security and Defense spanned both Democrat and Republican administrations. Among various posts, he served as a commander at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and as HHS’s principal deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. 

Most recently, Parker was the associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The term “one health” describes an approach to health care that recognizes the interconnectedness of humans, animals and the environment and aspires to balance and improve the health of each. 

In this capacity, Parker has served as a prominent voice and adviser to lawmakers on the U.S. bird flu outbreak, which has sickened at least 66 people. One person in Louisiana has died from the virus, known as H5N1.

Parker’s new post was first reported by CBS News. 

Increasing Farm Profitability with Corteva’s Innovative Pasture Products

While attending CattleCon 2025, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had the chance to visit Corteva Pasture and Range Management Field Scientist Sam Ingram. Oklahoma Farm Report’s coverage of CattleCon 2025 is powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.

Corteva is the market leader in pasture and range management products and keeps a pipeline flowing with new products ready to enter the marketplace. Corteva Range & Pasture products effectively manage weeds and brush in permanent pasture and grazed rangeland, to increase grass production and sustainable grazing resources.

“We want to limit the nutrients that broadleaf weeds and brush take away from us, and we turn it over to the forages that we either planted there, or were already on the farm because they were developed with high yields, high quality, and vigor,” Ingram said.

Ingram pointed out that a livestock producer’s lowest-cost feed source is standing forage. In addition to nutrients being stolen by unpalatable weeds and brush, groundwater is also lost to them making the application of Corteva herbicides makes sense.

The Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) has announced the application process for the 41st Annual OCA Ranch Rodeo is open. OCA invites interested teams to submit an application for the event to be held at the Lazy E Arena on August 15 & 16.

The Annual OCA Ranch Rodeo will feature twelve Oklahoma ranch teams competing in five events with the goal to raise funds for the Children’s Health Foundation (CHF).

“The 41st Annual OCA Ranch Rodeo will be a true celebration of our ranching heritage and the incredible talent of our ranching team members,” said Ken Trentman, Chairman of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Ranch Rodeo Committee. “We have been blessed with the success in past years to raise funds for the CHF and support their great work.”

OCA has partnered with CHF for twenty years and has raised almost $700,000 in that time.

Teams wanting to apply can find the application on OCA’s website at https://www.okcattlemen.org/events-programs/ranch-rodeo or may call the OCA office at 405-235-4391 to receive an application.

The Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association is the trusted voice of the Oklahoma Cattle Industry and works to protect and empower Oklahoma cattlemen today, to serve tomorrow. OCA is the only voice that speaks solely for the cattlemen of Oklahoma and represents beef producers in all 77 counties across the state. The OCA officers, board of directors and membership encourages you to join us in our advocacy efforts to ensure less government intervention, lower taxes, and a better bottom line. For more information about OCA membership, the theft reward program or activities call 405-235-4391 or visit www.okcattlemen.org.

The noon sun beats down on Kendall Christensen as she crouches in a field outside Stillwater to look at the grass around her feet. Tufts of big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass and Indian grass blanket the ground.

“This was previously farmed and then converted back to native range,” she said. “We wanted to see if there were any issues with the fertility on the land from farming and if there was anything we could do to increase fertility and production on the land.”

The study was part of Christensen’s undergraduate research project in the Oklahoma State University Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. She also double-majored in natural resource ecology management.

Christensen completed the rangeland fertility project as part of her honors thesis and will graduate in May 2025. She plans to continue her education at Sul Ross State University in Texas with the ultimate career goal of becoming a range soil ecologist.

Largely driven by a surge in disaster and economic government assistance, USDA’s latest farm income forecast projects a significant but misleading rebound in net farm income for 2025, rising to $180.1 billion — a $41 billion (29.5%) increase over 2024 and following two years of sharp declines. USDA also adjusted its 2024 estimate downward in this update, now projecting net farm income at $139.1 billion, reflecting an $8.2 billion (5.6%) decline from 2023. This is lower than the $140.7 billion (a $6 billion, or 4.1%, decline) forecast in December 2024, showing that farm sector profitability in 2024 was weaker than previously estimated.

The assistance driving farm income projections up was authorized by Congress to offset financial losses farmers and ranchers endured in previous years. However, many producers are still waiting for details on when and how these funds will be distributed, creating additional financial uncertainty as unpaid bills from 2024 continue to pile up. As a result, viewing the 2025 forecast in isolation misrepresents the true health of the farm economy, which will remain challenged in 2025 by generally low commodity prices and widely uncertain market conditions, including the potential fallout from new trade policies such as tariffs that could disrupt key agricultural export markets and increase input costs for U.S. farmers.

When adjusted for inflation, the net farm income increase from 2024 to 2025 is somewhat less dramatic, rising by $37.7 billion (26.4%). If realized, net farm income would be above its 2004-2023 inflation-adjusted average but slightly below record highs set in 2022.

NACD, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Sign Memorandum of Understanding

Today, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever signed a memorandum of understanding during the association’s 79th Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. This partnership brings together two organizations committed to natural resources conservation and the protection of wildlife habitat as NACD promotes habitat conservation and the theme of “Home is Where the Habitat is” for this year’s annual Stewardship Week on April 27 to May 4, 2025. 

NACD promotes the responsible management and conservation of natural resources on all lands by representing locally led conservation districts and their associations through grassroots advocacy, education, and partnerships. 

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever is a charitable, science-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation advocacy.  

The partnership between the two organizations will help accelerate voluntary, incentive-based conservation on private lands and develop the next generation of conservation-minded land stewards. Collaborative activities will include education, public outreach, landowner workshops and field tours coordinated through local conservation districts, and the promotion of conservation financial assistance available to landowners.  

Check the Graphics for the Winter Mix Ahead Tonight Into Wednesday

The graphics above are linked back to the National Weather Service office that issued them- in Norman and in Tulsa.