As Ag Day at the Capitol was being celebrated in Oklahoma City, Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with Connie Tabor, president of the Oklahoma CattleWomen’s Association, which served Walking Tacos made with beef provided by the Oklahoma Beef Council.

“It’s nice for them to grab it and just walk around the Capitol with it, and have a good dose of beef,” she said, pointing out that it is Taco Tuesday.

The conversation moved to the inaugural Kid’s Cattle Camp that the Oklahoma CattleWomen’s Association has planned for the summer, which will have activities for children going into kindergarten through eighth grade during the 2025-2026 school year. It will be held at the Pawnee County Fairgrounds on June 7.

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.

John H. Pfeiffer Jr., a fourth-generation Oklahoma farmer and rancher, has been awarded the 2025 recipient of Governor Kevin Stitt’s Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture Award and is the 28th inductee into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Pfeiffer to hear his story.

Pfeiffer was surprised when Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur called to give him the news. He double checked the number, then informed Secretary Arthur that she must have mistakenly called the “old John Pfeiffer” rather than the young one! The “young one” is State Representative John Pfeiffer III.

“My son and her talk at least weekly, and often two or three times a day,” he explained with a chuckle. “She said, ‘No, I want the old one!’” Secretary Arthur then proceeded to tell the older Pfeiffer that he would be honored as the next member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame.

Legislative Focus: Rep. Ty Burns on Mental Health, Education and Agriculture in Oklahoma

Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with Oklahoma State Representative Ty Burns to learn his priorities for the current legislative session. He listed the mental health of Oklahomans, a bill involving the inconvenient length of trains, another to ban the sale of lab-grown meat in the state, and the third to reduce the number of virtual days to return students to more time in-person in the classrooms.

“There is a major mental health issue in Oklahoma,” he said. “That is obviously the priority for House leadership, and there are a lot of different committees coming together to look at that. Hopefully, we can get that resolved very soon.”



Rep. Burns is closely monitoring the progress of his own bills, especially House Bill 758, which deals with the number of in-person classroom days students and schools must adhere to.

“Covid allowed these virtual days to take effect, and now people are misusing them,” he stated. “This is a state issue. We are talking about the billions of dollars that we use to fund schools at the state level – that’s our job. The biggest thing is H.B. 758 did not eliminate the four-day school week; you are going to have to adjust your calendar if it does go through because virtual days will be limited to two.”

During the month of April, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report are spotlighting the 19 Area Stars of Oklahoma FFA, who are among the highest achievers in the organization.

This week, our coverage of the 2025 Oklahoma FFA Star Award Finalists continues with Agribusiness competitor Cayden Russell of the Coalgate FFA chapter representing the Southeast Area.

Russell didn’t join FFA until his Freshman year because he was focused on Football and band during his middle school years. “I had that 4-H background, but all of my buddies were in FFA, so I joined.”

He and his parents were longtime friends of the ag teacher when he joined, so he found himself being “voluntold” to participate in various activities, including speech contests, electrical engineering competitions, and more.

Russell shared his Star SAE project. “I own and operate a trucking business out of southeast Oklahoma,” Russell said. “We are mostly just hauling hay right now.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation today asked for changes to the “Waters of the United States” rule to bring it in line with the Sackett v. EPA Supreme Court ruling, which called for more clarity in water regulations. AFBF submitted comments in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s request for recommendations.

“Considering drains, ditches, stock ponds, impoundments, irrigation ditches, and low spots in farm fields and pastures as jurisdictional ‘waters’ opens the door to regulation of ordinary farming activities that move dirt or apply products to the land on those lands,” AFBF stated in its comments. “Everyday activities such as plowing, planting, or fence building in or near ephemeral drainages, impoundments, ditches, or low spots could result in enforcement action triggering the (Clean Waters Act’s) harsh civil and criminal penalties unless a permit was obtained first. Bear in mind that permitting under CWA requires the investment of significant amounts of time and money. Most farmers and ranchers have neither of those in abundance.”

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 increasing calving ease without sacrificing performance.

Sire selection, natural service or AI is critical. Over time, 90% of genetic change is the result of sire selection. Your bull (or bulls) contribute more to the genetic makeup of your herd in a calving season than a cow does in her lifetime. Effective sire selection should be based on genetic values in the form of EPDs. Selection on EPDs is 7 – 9 times more effective than selection based on individual performance data, within herd ratios or performance testing, because all this information (plus more) is taken into consideration in calculating EPDs. Selecting genetically superior sires is the fastest approach to herd improvement and bottom-line profitability when you select genetic superiority that matches your management, production and marketing system.

If you are identifying bulls to breed heifers this spring and calving ease is a priority, current sexing technology can work to your advantage. Research shows that heifer calves are, on average, approximately five pounds lighter than bull calves at birth. The lighter birth weights will equate to less likelihood of dystocia. If sexed heifer semen is your preferred path to calving ease, expect to pay a little more (approximately $20/straw) per unit than typical of conventional semen. As well, timing of AI should also be delayed by six to 12 hours if using sexed semen. 

Conservation- the Heart of Every Farm and Ranch

The word “conservation” isn’t as catchy as buzzwords and phrases like “sustainability,” “regenerative” or “climate smart”, but they’re all at the root of farmers’ and ranchers’ core value of being good stewards of the land they rely on to support their operations today and for future generations.

Farmers’ number one asset is land. Whether they’re growing crops or raising livestock – or both, farmers use practices that maintain or improve the high quality of their land. Conserving land includes protecting soil health, retaining water and attracting pollinators, all of which benefits the farm and the environment.

Healthy soil, essential to growing crops and to providing forage for livestock, was the foundation of conservation efforts by the United States government starting in 1929, prompted by the Dust Bowl. USDA stepped into conservation services on a large scale beginning in 1935 when the Soil Conservation Act created the Soil Conservation Service, what eventually became the modern Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Now, NRCS promotes stewardship of all resources – water, soil, air and biodiversity. They allocate over $3.7 billion a year in financial assistance for farmers and ranchers and provide additional technical consultation to help install conservation practices on more than 53 million acres nationwide each year – an area the size of Idaho.

The MarketIntel team at the American Farm Bureau have done a deep dive into the benefits and the challenges when it comes to Conservation for our farms and ranches. Click on the Blue Button below to check it out.