The cold weather has arrived and precipitation is starting to fall in northern parts of the state.

Snow is the most likely precipitation type across northern OK today, while a wintry mix in the form of sleet and/or freezing rain is possible across central and southern OK and into western north TX. The graphic above courtesy of News9 in Oklahoma City shows possible snow fall totals.

Lots of Cold Temps ahead both Wednesday and Thursday morning- and even Friday- we won't see temps above freezing in many parts of Oklahoma until Saturday. This map is showing Wednesday AM Lows!

As for our Cattle markets- The Oklahoma National Stockyards proactively combined its normally scheduled Tuesday Cow and Bull sale with its Monday sale. They are closed today.

Similarly, OKC West is also responding to the extreme temperatures. They held their Monday Cow Sale as planned but have canceled their Tuesday and Wednesday sales. This decision prioritizes the safety of employees and the cattle themselves amidst the potentially dangerous conditions.

Further south, the Comanche Livestock Market has announced the cancellation of its Wednesday, February 19th sale due to the forecasted extreme cold. They anticipate resuming their regular schedule next Wednesday.

Stockman’s Livestock Auction in Apache will hold its online sale on Wednesday but will be closed on Thursday.

Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction in Ada will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday this week as well.

There will also be no Cow Sale on Tuesday at Woodward Livestock Auction, they will be selling cows after the stockers/feeders sale on Thursday.

Joplin Regional will not hold their regular cow sale on Wednesday of this week- again because of snow and cold conditions.

The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community, and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. 

To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes. 

And Check out this video below that helps you learn more about the Beef Checkoff-

At the Oklahoma Genetics Inc. Meeting in Oklahoma City, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had the chance to catch up with regents professor and wheat genetics chair in the Oklahoma State University Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Dr. Brett Carver.

In recent years, High Cotton has been the OSU Wheat Variety most sought after and Dr. Carver says that even with a new wheat variety about to be released, it remains high on his list of favorites. “We had enough testing of it before we released it to know that this was a legitimate variety for much of Oklahoma and southward.”

He was pleased with last year’s crop saying that although it was dinged by stripe rust, it fought off the fungus and produced a good yield. With genetic toughness and a high yield ceiling, the variety is well suited for both grazing and grain-only production.

The big news of the day was the announcement from Dr. Carver of a new named variety is official- Orange Blossom CL+ is going to be a next generation prodigy of Doublestop CL+

The Importance of Permanent Death Tax Reforms for Agriculture: Insights from Kent Bacus

At CattleCon 2025, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, spoke with National Cattlemen’s Association executive director of government affairs, Kent Bacus, about the challenges surrounding legislative tax policies in Congress.

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

Most agricultural groups agree that extending the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts would be ideal, however, Bacus, believes that the most important component of that package is the death tax exemption which he would like to see made permanent.

Bacus said that accomplishing that will be tough, but House and Senate leadership is on their side. He listed Iowa State Representative Randy Feensta, House Chairman Jason Smith, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune as major supporters of that agenda.

Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Dr. Rosslyn Biggs to discuss the upcoming Oklahoma Youth Expo (OYE) and the biosecurity measures involved with it.

According to Dr. Biggs, the time to begin is now as exhibitors prepare for local and county shows. Animal owners should be checking their equipment, making sure their animals are properly vaccinated, planning medications and first-aid supplies to take to the shows, and obtaining certificates of veterinary inspection or health certificates.

“There is a purpose to those health certificates,” Dr. Biggs explained. “We want an inspection on that day to confirm that that animal is showing no signs of illness or communicable disease because it is not only our animals at stake. It is everybody at the show and potentially our entire Oklahoma herd.”

To speed up the check-in process at the show, Dr. Biggs advised exhibitors to double-check their health certificates to ensure that the animals being shown are the animals that were inspected and indicated on the certificate. Additionally, hog exhibitors need to be sure that their hogs received both their pseudorabies and brucellosis vaccines. Sheep and goat exhibitors need to be sure their scrapie tags are in place.

BASF is further expanding its industry-leading FiberMax® and Stoneville® cotton seed portfolio with the addition of six new varieties for the 2025 growing season.

With these new additions, the FiberMax and Stoneville cotton seed portfolio features a total of 13 varieties. All new varieties for 2025 include Axant™ Flex herbicide tolerance technology, cotton’s first quad-stacked herbicide trait*, and three-gene insect control with TwinLink® Plus trait.

“At BASF, we know cotton farmers doing the Biggest Job on Earth need top-end genetics and leading traits to combat the many challenges that threaten yield potential,” said Andrew Adams, Cotton Marketing Manager for BASF Agricultural Solutions. “Every year, new BASF varieties are introduced after thorough testing and on-farm Agronomic Performance Trials, and we are thrilled to introduce six new varieties to the FiberMax and Stoneville cotton seed portfolio this year.”

OALP Class XXI Arrived Safely in Kenya

The travels of Class XXI of the OALP are underway- they spent their first night in Kenya- a short night- in Nairobi- and have been traveling by bus to get in position for several days in and around Nanyuki.

We will be posting highlights from Dr. Edmond Bonjour's reports from Facebook here in our email- it should be a great ten days for this capstone experience for Class XXI.