Long-time Congressman Wes Watkins, who represented the area of the state known as Little Dixie as both a Democrat and, later, towards the end of his political career, a Republican, has died. He was 86.

He ran twice as a Governor - once as a Democrat and then later as an Independent. It was after that second unsuccessful run for Governor that he ran for another term as Congressman, and that is when Republicans in the state persuaded him to run as a member of the GOP. He did, and he won.

The Oklahoma FFA Association has posted this tribute to a man who loved the organization deeply:



“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of former Congressman Wes Watkins, a steadfast champion of agricultural education and a lifelong supporter of FFA.

“Wes served as Oklahoma State FFA President from 1958 to 1959. His experience in FFA sparked a deep passion for service, leadership, and education. After earning degrees in agricultural education from Oklahoma State University, Wes went on to serve in the Oklahoma State Senate and later in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he advocated tirelessly for rural communities, career and technical education, and economic development.

National Livestock was founded in 1932 in Oklahoma City. National’s Marketing Division offers cattle for sale weekly at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. The Finance Division lends money to ranchers across several states for cattle production. The Grazing Division works with producers to place cattle for grazing on wheat or grass pastures.

Dakota Moss with Livestock Risk Services is also a part of the National Livestock Family. 

National also owns and operates other livestock marketing subsidiaries including Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction in Ada, Oklahoma, OKC West Livestock Market in El Reno, Oklahoma, and the nation’s premier livestock video sale, Superior Livestock Auction. National offers customers many services custom made for today’s producer. To learn more, click here for the website or call the Oklahoma City office at 1-800-310-0220.

Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, on Tuesday lost his fight to lock the state into standard time and stop the twice-yearly time change to daylight saving time.

House Bill 1223 would have established year-round standard of time in Oklahoma after daylight saving time ends Nov. 2. The bill failed to pass the House and advance to the Senate.

“Congratulations to all the members who voted no on this bill,” West said. “You just ensured that we will continue to change the clocks twice each year, even though the majority of Oklahomans want us to lock the clock.”

West has authored several bills that would send to a vote of the people a question on whether to adopt permanent standard time in Oklahoma, stopping the twice-yearly time change. The measures have not advanced through the full legislative process.

Breedr’s Platform: Empowering Ranchers with Data-Driven Decisions

Ian Wheal is founder and CEO of Breedr, which turns real-world livestock data into actionable insights, improving farmer profit and promoting sustainable meat production. Senior Farm & Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Wheal to hear about the innovative platform.

Wheal was raised on a cow calf operation in Australia. His father spent a lot of time building co-ops and supply chains and created some of the first contracts with retailers in Australia, so networking ranchers to produce better beef supply chains was always a part of his life.

“Breedr is focused on how to bring that to individual producers,” Wheal explained. “How do we enable these supply chains to be able to vertically collaborate but still put a lot of power in the hands of ranchers so that no one gets left behind?”

The platform is composed of three major elements, which Wheal explained: “One is super easy data collection on the ranch. That is, with a phone, connecting an EID and a weigh scale and logging your births and inventory.”

Over the last 20 years, BASF fungicides have protected an estimated 30 billion bushels and 260 million acres of corn and soybeans. As commodity prices and environmental pressures increasingly factor into farmer decision-making, only an estimated 45% of corn and soybean acres were protected by fungicide applications in 2024. As a result, BASF is launching its largest yield challenge ever, the Real Results Yield Challenge, providing farmers and their local retailers greater access and support to stage yield trials with Veltyma®, Revytek® and Revylok™ fungicides across all key geographies.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays got to chat with BASF’s Senior Technical Marketing Manager Albre Brown about the Real Results Yield Challenge.

“If you have been using our products in the past, you have become used to that high level performance,” Brown said. “We still want people to have that option to participate, so in order to participate, they would only have to put a skip in their fields to see the difference in the performance there.“

The grower would take photos of the skip and return the yield benefits to show the difference between their untreated side of the field and their treated side of the field. The untreated potion can be as small as a single row of crops.

Oklahoma State University Extension is calling on cotton producers across the state to participate in two research initiatives: variety trials and harvest aid demonstrations.

“We’re looking for locations to plant our race trials,” said Jenny Dudak, OSU Extension Cotton Specialist, in a recent interview with KC Sheperd of the Oklahoma Farm Report. “It would be a good opportunity for producers to evaluate various varieties on their fields and see what works best on their operations.”

Dudak explained that the variety trials involve planting multiple cotton varieties side-by-side, allowing producers to observe their performance throughout the growing season. “Producers can go and look at those varieties – see what they’re liking about them – their statures, how they’re maturing, different things like that,” Dudak said. At the end of the season, yield data is collected, providing valuable insights for future planting decisions.

The program provides the seed, and producers manage the cotton as they would their own crop. Dudak emphasized the importance of considering factors like maturity length and herbicide tolerance when selecting varieties, especially given Oklahoma’s diverse growing conditions.

The Griswold Cattle Company Grass to Grid Bull Sale is to be held on Friday, March 28, at 9313 East 6th Avenue, Stillwater, Oklahoma, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Ahead of the sale on Thursday- Guests are invited to a steak dinner at the sale facility at 6 p.m. featuring OSU’s Dr. Derrell Peel talking about cattle market outlook

The sale will include 202 Angus, Simmental, Maine & Hereford service-age bulls, 23 fall-bred heifers, 160 commercial first-calf heifer pairs and 60 commercial open heifers.

Cattle may be viewed all day, and videos can be viewed here. Access the sale catalog here.

More information can be found at griswoldcattle.com, on the CCI Live online auction page, or by calling John Griswold at (405) 780-3300.

Farm to You Exhibit helps Students Learn the Origin of Food

It’s not every day Oklahoma school children get to milk a cow, but thanks to an agricultural learning opportunity through Oklahoma State University Extension, students across the state are learning about where their food comes from and how food helps their bodies grow.

Farm to You is a walk-through educational experience with nine stations designed for students in first through sixth grades and is part of OSU Extension’s Community Nutrition Education Programs. The hands-on activities help children learn where their food comes from and guides them to develop the skills they need to make healthy lifestyle choices, said Parker Jackson, Community and Nutrition Education Programs educator and program coordinator with OSU Extension.

“With this exhibit, our goal is to help students not only learn where their food comes from but also help them make the connection of how good nutrition affects the body,” he said.

The Farm to You exhibit is free for schools. There are space and personnel requirements, and details are available on the website. Teachers may request a Farm to You visit via email from the website. Jackson said there are dates still available for the spring semester, and he currently is getting requests for visits next fall semester.