USDA released its March Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports on Tuesday.

Farm Director, KC Sheperd talked with Rich Nelson of Allendale, where key insights emerged regarding the latest WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates) report, highlighting the market’s delicate balance amidst trade uncertainties. Nelson’s analysis focused on the surprising increase in U.S. wheat stocks, the looming impact of political decisions on exports, and the trends concerning the beef market.

Nelson pointed to the unexpected surge in U.S. wheat ending stocks, stating, “But wheat… that’s where we saw the surprise. A 25 million bushel increase in US wheat stocks to 819 million bushels.” This deviation from market expectations, he explained, adds pressure to domestic prices and impacts export competitiveness.

The discussion quickly turned to the volatile trade landscape. “Trade wars, potential tariffs… these are wildcards,” Nelson emphasized, stressing the vulnerability of U.S. wheat exports to geopolitical fluctuations. He further addressed the Russia-Ukraine situation, noting, “The Russia-Ukraine war could be a short-term bearish issue if an agreement is made,” while acknowledging the inherent uncertainty of the ongoing conflict.

Dating back to 1891, Stillwater Milling Company has been supplying ranchers with the highest quality feeds made from the highest quality ingredients. Their full line of A & M Feeds can be delivered direct to your farm, found at their Agri-Center stores in Stillwater, Davis, Claremore and Perry or at more than 125 dealers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. We appreciate Stillwater Milling Company’s long time support of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and we encourage you to click here to learn more about their products and services.

On the final day of the 123rd Annual National Farmer’s Union Convention, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays had the opportunity to visit with the organization’s president, Rob Larew, to discuss three priorities called the NFU’s Special Order of Business.

In 2025, the first order is centered around the prospect of a new farm bill. Larew provided details on the group’s collective views. “We know that we need changes to the existing safety net. We know that the current farm bill is inadequate for today’s conditions. We want to make sure that Congress doesn’t take their eye off of the ball with getting a farm bill finished, and make sure that it is strong enough and relevant for the next five years.”

The next priority concerns fairness for farmers. It relates to farmers’ rights to repair, mandatory country of origin labeling and preventing monopolies from becoming commonplace in the food and ag industries to keep things fair for farmers.

Of the latter, Larew said, “We are actually pretty bullish on this because I think President Trump not only understands America first but also understands that monopolies can invoke too much power out there.”

OYE Ready to Start Ten Day Run- The Word from Kass Newell

The first day of the show has arrived, and the OKC Fairgrounds is buzzing with excitement as the Oklahoma Youth Expo is running parallel with the state high school basketball tournament.

In the barns, OYE Executive Vice President Kass Newell tells Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays that her staff and team of more than a hundred volunteers are ready to coordinate the dozens of events that make up the 2025 Oklahoma Youth Expo- called over the years the “world’s largest junior livestock show.”

For 2025- there were just over 32,000 entries received at the show’s headquarters on the south edge of OKC Fairgrounds, and all of the species had more entries than in 2024.

It’s the last year to utilize the historic Jim Norick Arena- and OYE will move into “the Big House” for one more time on Sunday morning after basketball wraps up their final run of Championships.

Meanwhile- the breeding animal shows will be full speed ahead, with the MoorMan’s ShowTec Commercial Breeding Gilt Show kicks off at 8 AM in the Barn 6 Performance Arena- the Dark Cross Division begins the OYE show schedule with the hope of each exhibitor to see their animal selected to get “up the hill” and make the main show ring for a chance to be placed in their respective class- and the ultimate hope is to be later selected to be one of the 120 or so gilts that will be in the Night of Stars Gilt Sale next Tuesday, March 18.

Our coverage of the 2025 Oklahoma Youth Expo is sponsored by Hilliary Communications. More than 60 years ago, the Hilliary Family acquired a small telephone company in rural southwest Oklahoma. Now in its third generation, the company has grown from a single exchange with just 100 access lines covering 22 square miles to now serving more than 19,000 customers in 22 counties throughout Oklahoma & Texas. The company also offers IP television service and internet speeds up to 1 Gig. Click here to learn more about Hilliary Communications.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays features comments from Kansas State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Glynn Tonsor, who talks about beef demand by looking at the lagging data directly from USDA. While there are no numbers yet for early 2025, all of the data for 2024 is in.

According to Tonsor, domestic beef demand in December 2024 was almost 4% higher than in December 2023, and for 10 of the 12 months in the year, beef demand was higher.

“When you have demand increasing, and supply turned out a little bit up, but we were actually expecting it to be down, and we are pretty confident it will be down in 2025,” Tonsor said. “That demand pull was key to those higher prices in 2024 that most cattlemen experienced.”

Regarding export demand, foreign demand for beef was up 5% in December 2024. On a monthly basis, foreign demand for beef was higher in each of the 12 months of the year.

Editor's Note- The National Weather Service in Norman released this graphic above on Tuesday late afternoon- summarizing the dangers of this coming Friday- the story below is from the Mesonet Ticker authored by Gary McManus:

Oklahoma is facing a volatile weekend with a dangerous combination of high winds, critical fire weather, and potential severe storms, according to State Climatologist Gary McManus. McManus is warning Oklahoma residents to prepare for a “wild” weekend, highlighting the state’s precarious position on the national weather map.

“This weekend’s weather is going to be wild across the country,” McManus stated, emphasizing the widespread nature of the impending weather system. However, he pointed out that Oklahoma faces a unique combination of hazards. “You’ll see that Oklahoma gets the high winds and critical fire weather portion of the Venn diagram, with a bit of severe weather thrown in across eastern Oklahoma for bad measure.”

While the primary concern is fire danger, eastern Oklahoma also faces the threat of severe storms. “We do have severe weather in the forecast on Wednesday as well,” McManus noted, indicating that the threat is not limited to the weekend. He also addressed the tornado risk, stating, “All hazards will be possible, but you know the drill…tornado threat is low, but not zero.” He then gave a stark reminder, “The last ‘low but not zero’ we had on March 4 resulted in 13 twisters.”

Mark Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, offers herd health advice as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Derrell Peel, Johnson, and Paul Beck. Today, Johnson discusses ideal bull to female ratios.

Breeding season is approaching and bull turnout is only weeks away for herds that plan to start calving next January. We are fortunate in Oklahoma to have a large number of outstanding registered seedstock breeders who are, and will be, marketing bulls in volume in our state. The opportunity to invest in genetics to improve the profit potential of your operation leads to several questions and requires planning.

The first goal of breeding season is to get cows bred early in breeding season, resulting in more calves born earlier in calving season, shorter breeding/calving seasons, older calves at weaning, and ultimately, more pay weight at weaning due to calf age. The typical beef calf gains about 2 lbs./day up until weaning; accordingly a calf born one heat cycle (21 days) earlier will wean off about 40 lbs. heavier. How do we get this accomplished? By having an adequate amount of bulls to get cows serviced. The following shows a conservative expectation of the number of cows we should expect bulls to cover in a defined breeding season.

From the State Capitol- Watershed Restoration Act Passes House

Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, today passed a measure in the House that would expand a program to eradicate harmful trees and shrubs in certain watersheds statewide.

House Bill 2162 would create the Terry Peach Watershed Restoration Act. The act would build on legislation enacted in 2023 that created a pilot program focused on the North Canadian Watershed with the goal of exploring solutions to the infestation of red cedars and other invasive species. The measure is named after former Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach who died in 2022.

“The goal is not only to improve water flow to drought-stricken areas of the state, but to protect residential properties and critical infrastructure from the great fire danger these trees and shrubs create,” Dobrinski said. “The state has millions of acres it maintains, and it’s imperative we protect our grazing lands and wildlife habitats and ultimately our economy.”

HB2162 would remove the pilot status of the program and would create a revolving fund to be administered by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission to accomplish the goals of the program. The estimated cost of expansion is $10 million, which would have to be approved through the appropriations’ process. Dobrinski said the return on investment to the state should be greater than this initial investment.