Howdy Neighbors!

Four finalists have been selected for the 2025 Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award. The award honors farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners who go above and beyond in their management of soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat on working land.

Named in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, this award recognizes landowners who inspire others with their dedication to environmental improvement.

In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold advocated for “a land ethic,” an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage.



This Year's Four nominations include:

Big D Farm and Ranch of Bristow in Creek County

Phelan Ranch of Mountain Park in Comanche County

Rising Sun Ranch of Roff in Pontotoc County

Cody Sloan of Gore in Sequoyah, Muskogee and LeFlore counties

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, to discuss several key trends shaping the beef industry. Blach began by noting one of the current “silver linings” in agriculture: low feed costs. “Corn is cheap, beans are cheap, wheat is cheap, everything’s cheap right now,” Blach said. He acknowledged that the broader farm economy has been under pressure, with prices “very depressed below the cost of production,” but explained that this has been “to the benefit of not only beef producers, but pork and poultry producers as well.”

According to Blach, all protein sectors are currently “profitable” thanks to these lower feed prices. When asked about trade with China, Blach pointed out that the nation’s absence as a beef buyer hasn’t been as damaging as it might seem.

“The China market was our third biggest market before we were closed out of it back in April,” he explained. “Normally… that would have been six to eight dollars a hundred impact on our fed cattle markets. We haven’t noticed that.” Tight cattle supplies, he said, have offset the trade loss. He also highlighted that per capita beef consumption has held steady at “right at 59 pounds this year,” due in part to strong demand for ground beef. “Ground beef demand has been out of the world,” Blach said, noting that “nearly 53% of the beef consumption in the U.S. this year will be in the form of ground beef.”

The agricultural industry is rapidly digitizing, and according to Dr. Ryan Reuter, an Animal and Food Sciences Professor at Oklahoma State University (OSU), this transformation is making its way to livestock production. In a conversation with Farm Director KC Sheperd, Dr. Reuter detailed how technologies like virtual fencing, animal sensors, and autonomous equipment are moving precision agriculture from row crops to the range.

Dr. Reuter noted that research into virtual fencing and other sensors has been underway for several years. He reported that the models and technology are continuously improving, becoming “more capable, more durable,” and, for commercial versions, “getting a little bit cheaper over time.”

Dr. Reuter stressed that the core mission of this automation is to make ranchers’ lives easier and safer, particularly as producers often manage herds alone or continue working into older age. Efficiency and Safety Benefits: Pinpoint Location: GPS sensors allow operators to immediately verify an animal’s location, eliminating the need to “waste time driving around looking for an animal that we can’t find.” If a problem arises, they can drive directly to the animal.

Farm director KC Shepered visited with Devlon Ford from the Noble Research Institute at the “Growing Together” event in Norman. The discussion focused on regenerative ranching and the educational opportunities Noble provides for producers. Ford explained that “most people come to regenerative ranching for one of three reasons.” He outlined those as: “they want to leave the land better than when they got it- they want safe food – and they want to profit.”

Ford connected these motivations to Noble’s broader mission, saying, “We want to use regenerative principles to guide farmers and ranchers in applying those principles. That way, they can grow better grazing lands, have more productive soils, and become more successful as a business.”

He highlighted several of Noble’s training programs, noting upcoming Noble Land Essentials courses in “Bluffton, Georgia. Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and a class coming up in February in Ardmore, Oklahoma.” Ford encouraged producers to visit noble.org, where “there’s a spot called ‘Find a course’ and it’ll tell you the ones we have planned for the rest of this year and into 2026.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is accepting nominations for the 2026 Environmental Stewardship Awards. Established in 1991, the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) annually recognizes outstanding stewardship practices and conservation achievements of cattle producers across the country.

“Since its inception 35 years ago, this prestigious program has recognized 235 cattle operations for their stewardship efforts,” said NCBA President Buck Wehrbein. “We look forward to finding the next deserving stewards and sharing their stories.” 

Any individual, group or organization is eligible to nominate one individual or business raising or feeding cattle. While individuals and families may not nominate themselves, they should be involved in the preparation of the application. Past nominees are encouraged to resubmit applications; however, previous winners may not reapply. 

How we manage calves at weaning and during backgrounding doesn’t just affect gain in the short term—it can carry over into how those calves perform all the way through the feedyard. A two-year study from Auburn University was conducted to increase the understanding of management options to add value to calves and the carry-over effects through finishing.

Calves were weaned by one of three methods:

• Fence-line weaning

• Nose-flap weaning

• Abrupt weaning

Backgrounding Performance

Fence-line weaned calves hit the ground running with the highest ADG in the first 30 days, regardless of diet. Use of the nose-flap held no advantage over abrupt weaning. Diet also mattered—calves on the bermudagrass hay + DDGS diet gained the most early in backgrounding. However, in the last 30 days, calves on the baleage or warm-season annual grazing diets had greater performance.

Fall Gatherings provide OCA members an opportunity to fellowship with area cattlemen in a casual atmosphere while gaining tips on how to protect our livelihood and enhance production practices. In an effort to recruit new OCA members, we encourage members to invite friends, family and neighbors.

Doors open for vendor and sponsor visitation at 6:00 pm and the program begins with a delicious BEEF meal at 6:30 pm. During the meeting we will hear from sponsors followed by industry updates from the Oklahoma Beef Council and the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association. To RSVP for a upcoming fall gathering near you, please click the button below or call the OCA office at 405-235-4391.

Vendor opportunities are also available at each gathering. If your business serves the agricultural or cattle industry, this is a perfect chance to showcase your products and build relationships with Oklahoma cattlemen.

Checking the Markets...

Superior Livestock will hold their next video auction at 8 AM Central this morning- 26,192 will be offered today. Click here for SuperiorClicktoBid.Com to check out today's sale.

Choice Boxed beef prices strengthened on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, with the Choice cutout increasing $2.06 to $366.48, while Select slipped $1.39 to $349.16, widening the Choice-Select spread to $17.32, up from $13.87 on Tuesday. Total loads moved were 156, compared to 145 the previous day.

OKC West in El Reno had another sharply higher sale with 6,171 cattle on Tuesday and Wednesday- Manager Bill Barnhart describes things on their Facebook page- "The market continues to run straight up on stockers and feeders this week. New records for cash and futures contracts day after day. November feeders have now rallied 30.00 in just the last 15 days. Everything is higher except the fat cattle trade which has yet to develop this week. A correction may be due but lots of optimism for the months ahead."

OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.

Click here for our Markets Page on OklahomaFarmReport.Com- there you will find many of the reports we have linked on the right hand column found on the previous format of our email.

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