After a sixty year run- the Oklahoma Youth Expo said a final goodbye to Jim Norick arena with the Sale of Champions, featuring the top 213 market animals that were shown this week at the 2025 OYE.

$1.4 Million was paid to the 4-H and FFA members who participated in the 2025 sale- led by the Grand Champion Market Steer that was sold for $100,000- shown by Amber Pocasset’s Madilyn Norvell. The buyers of the Grand Champion Steer at the OYE included Express Employment, Express Ranches, Livestock Nutrition Center, McAfee and Taft, Bank of Western Oklahoma, OKC Visitors Bureau, Hilliary Communications and Oklahoma Ford Dealers.

The Grand Champion market barrow was once again purchased by Westgate Market- and this year’s exhibitor was Kaleb Dorr of Wagoner FFA. His barrow was sold for $30,000.

The Grand Champion Market Lamb- owned by Skylar Dooley of Lomega 4-H- was auctioned off for $15,000 and purchased by CSTK Trailers and Oklahoma Ford Dealers.

Sayde Allen of Canute FFA owned both the Reserve Grand Champion Lamb and the Grand Champion Goat- and the OYE decided to sell them together in the Sale of Champions the result was a bid for $25,000 for both animals- with the buyers including McDonalds, Bank of Western Oklahoma, Diamond Hats, Pfeiffer Farms and Oklahoma State Fair.

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While touring the new OG&E Coliseum being built at the OKC Fairgrounds with Oklahoma Farm Bureau President and MAPS-4 Venues Subcommittee Member, Rodd Moesel, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays took to opportunity to discuss the ins and outs of the new facility with him.

Currently, the Jim Norick Arena is the most used public facility in Oklahoma City with more than 200 days out of each year booked for events. While the equine industry claims most of those days, stock shows claim many, as do high school basketball games, wrestling tournaments, and concerts.

“The biggest things are agricultural events, horse shows and stock shows,” Moesel summarized.

One of the last major events at the Norick was OYE- with the building expected to be shut down in a matter of weeks. It is anticipated that the first event in the new Coliseum will be happening in early June.

He told how Populace, the architectural and engineering firm for the facility, visited with many of the current users of the facility during the design process. They also visited other premises in Tulsa, Fort Worth, Kansas City, and more to find the best parts of each facility that could be incorporated into the new OG&E Coliseum.

David Weaber Discusses Challenges in Herd Expansion

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is continuing his conversation with senior animal protein research analyst David Weaber at Terrain about herd rebuilding. Part one of the discussion can be found here.

Simply due to the rising cost of doing business, Weaber feels that herd growth will be modest and intentional. “It takes a big pile of money,” he said. “In the 2010-2012 territory, if you were spending $1,700 or $1,800 on a bred heifer, you were spending plenty. Today, they are at least $1,000 higher than that. Carrying costs are another $1,000 higher than they were back then. The economic signal isn’t as big as maybe what we perceive, just because that cost and revenue relationship is not record large either, so that is a bit of a challenge.”

Weaber doesn’t expect to see any signs of expansion in the slaughter cattle sector before 2028. “We passed on expanding the cow herd this past fall, so we’ll have to wait until fall of ’25 before we retain heifers,” he detailed. “We breed those in the summer of ’26, they calve in 2027. It is a push to get anything in terms of fed cattle supply growth anytime, even in the back half of 2028, is the earliest you could get that done.”

Weaber said beef supplies will become tighter before then because the females will be removed from the supply chain when they are retained as future mama cows. Already tight beef supplies have resulted in a good “trade-in” value for cull cows, and once producers begin retaining heifers, they can expect higher prices on the animals that they do sell as demand will be extremely high as supplies are further tightened.

USDA's Brooke Rollins Names Three Key Leaders to USDA Posts

Bill Beam, Aubrey Bettencourt and Pat Swanson have been named to lead USDA's Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Risk Management Agency, respectively.

Bill Beam to serve as the Administrator for the Farm Service Agency. Beam is the Owner and Operator of Beam Farms Inc., a fourth-generation farmer raising corn, soy, wheat, hay, specialty crops and beef in Elverson, Pennsylvania. Beam served as the Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs of the FSA/USDA from 2018-2021 and became the Deputy Administrator of FSA towards the end of President Trump's first term in the White House.

Aubrey Bettencourt will be the new Chief of the NRCS. She is a third-generation California farmer and most recently served as the Global Director of Government Relations and External Affairs at Netafim, an international company specializing in irrigation technology. Among other positions, Bettencourt previously served as President and CEO of the Almond Alliance of California, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the U.S. Department of the Interior, California State Executive Director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency, and Executive Director of the California Water Alliance.

Pat Swanson will serve as the Administrator for the Risk Management Agency (RMA) within Farm Production and Conservation. Most recently, Pat has served as a director for the American Soybean Association (ASA) and completed her term on the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board. Along with her husband, Don, Pat has experience running a crop insurance agency, helping farmers in southeastern Iowa manage risk through crop, forage, pasture and livestock insurance. Pat and her family run a seventh-generation farm near Ottumwa, Iowa. They raise soybeans, corn, and have a cow-calf operation. Pat is an alumna of Iowa State University and is passionate about advocating for farmers through her involvement with Iowa 4-H, CommonGround Iowa and her work with ASA.

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) applauds the appointment of Aubrey Bettencourt to serve as Chief of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

As Chief, Bettencourt will lead NRCS staff and conservation programs that provide critical resources and technical assistance to America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to invest in their operations to improve working lands conservation, increase the competitiveness of American agriculture, and improve the quality of our air, water, soil, and wildlife habitats. 

“NACD welcomes Aubrey Bettencourt to the helm of NRCS at a critical time for America’s producers and our conservation delivery system,” said NACD President Gary Blair. “Our country’s 3,000 local conservation districts play a vital role in the effective administration of NRCS conservation programs, and they stand ready to work closely with Chief Bettencourt to serve our producers and champion the effectiveness of voluntary, locally led conservation. Chief Bettencourt’s extensive experience in farming, conservation, and government programs will enable her to be highly effective in this role.”  

Chris Towner, representing the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), recently visited with Farm Director KC Sheperd to provide insights into the organization’s mission and the current state of federal fiscal policy. The CRFB, a nonpartisan, non-profit think tank based in Washington D.C., focuses on advocating for policies that place the national debt on a downward path relative to the economy. 

Towner emphasized the CRFB’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, stating, “We push for fiscal responsibility efforts. So that’s either making sure any tax cuts are paid for with requisite spending cuts, or making sure that any spending increases are paid for with requisite tax increases.”

Despite the challenging fiscal environment, he maintained a sense of purpose. “We like to say it could have been worse if we weren’t here trying to push them to do the fiscal responsible thing,” he said.

He highlighted the broad reach of the federal budget, particularly its impact on the agricultural sector. “The federal budget touches pretty much every policy sphere in the country and especially in agriculture,” he noted. He pointed to the farm bill, which includes “agriculture subsidies” and “food stamp benefits,” as a key example. “The reality is that we’re spending a lot more than we take in, in federal revenues on an annual basis. And thus, everything is put at risk when we’re starting to borrow a little bit too much.”

Packer Ownership, Taxes Focus of LMA’s D.C. Fly-In

Livestock Marketing Association, or LMA, members gathered in Washington, D.C., March 9-11. Throughout their annual fly-in, the group also advocated for key Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions to be extended before expiring. They also expressed thanks for Congress passing Livestock Dealer Statutory Trust in 2020, which improves recovery when livestock dealers default.

Three Oklahoma Market Owners participated in the 2025 FLY IN- Ben and Seth Hale of Woodward and Chris Boerjan of Wister.

LMA President Mike VanMaanen, who owns Eastern Missouri Commission Co. was pleased with time invsted by the LMA members:



“I’m just so proud of the number of members who took time away from their busy schedules and families to come advocate for our industry on Capitol Hill,” he said. “We’re so much stronger together. The relationships built and maintained on the trip will make sure our industry’s interests are considered in federal policy decisions.”